Humon?
by Curious Kitsune654
Summary: While Naruto is fighting Sasuke at the Valley of the End, the Kyuubi uses the chance to try and rid the world of one more Uchiha by overloading his containers attack. This leads to unforeseen circumstances and two big questions. "What's a Digimon?" and "What happened to me!" Naruto x Mimi x Kari
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy.

Humon?

-Chapter 0ne-

-Valley of The End-

Two boys stood across a river, standing atop two destroyed statues as they glared at the one another. Numerous craters and trenches littered the area alongside large smoking scorch marks. The cause was easy to determine based on the two's ragged, scuffed up appearances. Their breathing was haggard, patches of blood soaking various sections of clothing as they struggled to stay upright.

The first was a black haired young teen with grey skin, red eyes with three comma's swirling within each one, and two monstrous hand like wings sticking out his back. This was Sasuke Uchiha, formerly last loyal Uchiha of Konoha and now a defecting traitor. Annoyance was clear on his face as he did three odd motions with his hands before it was incased with lightning.

The other was a blond haired, normally blue-currently red eyed, short statured boy with lightly tanned skin and deep whisker like marks crossing his cheeks. A vile feeling red aura of energy bubbled sinisterly around his body, a portion of it protruding from his backside and waving lazily just like a tail. One of his arms hung limply at his side while the other was bawled up into a fist. This was Naruto Uzumaki, number one unpredictable shinobi, holder of the nine-tailed fox, and loyal ninja of Konoha. His eyes narrowed as he saw the deadly technique in his opponent's hand while raising his one good hand up to his side.

A glowing blue ball started to form before some of the Kyuubi's chakra surrounding him was sucked into it, turning it a dark violet. Both attacks ready, the two locked eyes and jumped straight at each-other. "CHIDORI/RASENGAN!"

The attacks collided with a deafening bang as shockwaves flew outwards and demolished the surrounding area. Naruto and Sasuke pushed towards the other with all their strength, desperately trying to force the other back. Before either of them realized it, a bright sphere of darkness spread from where they collided and swallowed them both.

When his vision cleared, Naruto saw he was about to hit Sasuke with enough power to kill him most likely. Remembering his promise to Sakura, He immediately started to power down his attack even as he felt the sharp pain of his opponents lightning covered hand pierce his chest for the second time that day. Swinging to hit him aside the head and hopefully knock him out, Naruto's eyes widened in shock as his vanishing Rasengan flared back up to full power, only fully red now.

-moments ago, Seal-

The great Kyuubi no Kitsune growled angrily as he felt the small portion of his power being used. Before his container stood a reminder of one of the beings he despised more than anything, Madara Uchiha. Watching as the annoyance fought through his containers eyes, the Kyuubi sneered further as he sensed the boy's intent to hold back and the feeling of his chakra being used starting to taper off.

Suddenly though, a wicked grin crossed the fox's face as his gaze locked onto the dissipating sphere of energy currently headed towards the accursed Uchiha. Focusing on that one point, the fox slammed one of his tails against the bars of his cage causing a surge of it power to flood out. Watching with a satisfied smile as the attacked was repowered up and headed directly for the brat's head.

-Back to reality-

Everything seemed to slow down as the swirling ball of energy descended upon Sasuke. Horror crossed Naruto's face as he tried to stop his arm but couldn't due to the inertia behind it. He could only watch as the shock crossed the Uchiha's face as the attacked collided before it violently exploded in a blinding flash

When the light cleared, Sasuke could be seen imbedded inside the cliff with his face badly shredded and burned, Naruto nowhere to be found.

-Unknown Place-

Agonizing pain, that was all Naruto was truly aware of as he crashed into the hard ground. Over three-fourths of his right arm was completely missing, a bloody stump all that's left, while a small stone was impaled into his eye. Panting tiredly, he just laid on the ground motionlessly, oblivious to everything around him.

Because of his unawareness, Naruto didn't notice the small particles of light that started floating around him, or how they were slowly drawn towards his stomach and into the exposed seal there. This continued for several minutes before the seal suddenly started glowing an ominous red and dispersing into a cloud of red particles.

These crimson flecks quickly grouped together next to him, condensing together tightly before with a bright flash a second figure stood above the injured boy. The figure wore thick red plated armor with black shoulder pads, a metallic face shaped into the form of a fox with glowing red eyes, and nine long armored crimson tails protruding from his backside.

Taking a look at himself, the being's metal face seemed to twist into a smile before laughing darkly. "Finally, freedom from that infernal cage!" His deep booming voice rang out managing to snap Naruto out of his pain induced obliviousness. Focusing on the figure, Naruto's eye widened dramatically as he came into focus.

"K-k-kyuubi? But… how?" He muttered out weakly, drawing the now identified fox's attention. With that same cruel smirk across his face, one of the Kyuubi's tails reached out and slowly wrapped around the boy's throat.

Naruto found himself choking slightly as he was hoisted into the air and brought straight up to the kitsunes eye level. "An interesting question, but here's a better one. How should I make you suffer?"

As he spoke, the tail slowly tightened its hold, causing Naruto to choke and cough as he uselessly tried to pull the tail off. Slowly the world started to blur even more, darkening as his lungs burned for oxygen and his blood poured to the ground.

Just when he was certain that he was truly about to die though, the tail loosened its grip slightly and he took several desperate gasps. When the sound of mocking laughter reached his ears, Naruto grabbed the tail holding him as tightly as he could as he glared at the source. "Do you honestly think I'd give you the easy way out?" The kyuubi asked, before laughing darkly as he brought the boy right up to his face.

"Of course I'm not, I want to make you truly suffer for keeping me prisoner. The question is how." Moving him away, the Kyuubi stroked his chin as he though in silence for several minutes. Naruto wriggled as much as he could, but the blood loss was really starting to affect him now and he was rapidly losing feeling to everything.

The Kyuubi watched him struggle with amusement, before suddenly grinning even wider. "I know exactly what to do," He murmured as two other tails swiftly shot up and started wrapping Naruto up completely, the last words he heard sending spikes of dread to his soul. "I'll make it so you can never go to that precious little village of yours ever again. How you may ask… by making you the very thing they feared you'd be."

"Hey! Let him go!" He didn't know who the other voice was, and didn't have much time to ponder it as everything was engulfed in a blinding red light and his pain multiplied a thousand-fold.

-Few minutes earlier-

Tai Kamiya was having a very odd day. It had all started when it started snowing at his summer camp, yes SNOW in the middle of summer. Then suddenly, these weird devices shoot out of the sky and suck him and six others up in a vortex of water. Now, he and the others were stuck in some unknown place with creatures called digital monsters, or Digimon for short, following them as they wandered around trying to find a way back to camp.

Their group consisted of himself, Matt Ishida, a cool acting boy with dirty blond hair, Sora Takenouchi, a ginger haired tomboy who always wore a helmet, Izzy Izumi, a short but intelligent computer whizz with dark brown hair, Mimi Tachikawa, a happy girl with a passion for pink, Joe Kido, the slight hypochondriac and eldest of the group, and T.K. the youngest of the group and Matt's little brother.

With them were their 'partner' digimon, Agumon, a yellowish bipedal lizard that could breathe fire, Gabumon, a canine-ish Digimon with a long horn sticking from his head and wore a blue fur pelt, Biyomon, a large pink bird with clawed wings, Tentomon, a red beetle with spikes that could emit electricity, Palmon, a plant like Digimon that looked kinda like a ragdoll, Gomamon, a small white seal with purple marks, and Patamon, a yellowish… floating... something.(Look up pictures for better descriptions)

They had just run away from a fight between two monochromon earlier and were currently wandering around a forest full of random street signs. ' _Finally, a moment of peace._ ' Tai thought as he casually leads the group. As if just to spite him though, seconds after he thought that a ball of fire shoots pass them and crashed just a small way ahead of them with a deafening boom.

"Oh my gosh! That was way to close." Joe said as he uncovered his ears and breathed deeply, "We should get out of here in case that happens… and you're all heading right for it." He started to suggest only to switch to a deadpan tone as the rest of the group headed towards where the object crashed.

"I wonder if that was a meteor. That would be so cool!" Tai said as he spearheaded forward.

"That is statistically very unlikely, a meteor of that approximate mass would no doubt have caused a much greater seismic event upon impact that what we felt." Izzy stated, then promptly palming his face when he noticed the confused expressions on his companions faces. "…it would have shaken the ground a lot worse." He muttered getting 'ahs' from the others.

"Well, why didn't you say that in the first place?" Gomamon asked from Joe's shoulder only to be ignored.

"Let's just hope it isn't more tro…" Sora trailed off as they saw the crater. Within said crater stood a terrifying looking 'digimon' choking a badly injured boy with a tail. At the sight of said injuries, everyone in the group paled, even causing Mimi to vomit into a conveniently placed bush. Who could blame her though, it wasn't every day you saw a boy missing an arm, stabbed in the eye, and HAVING A GAPING HOLE IN HIS CHEST!

By the time they snapped from their stunned stupors, the 'digimon' had started laughing in a sinister way as two other tails completely encased the boy and began glowing. "Hey! Let him go!" Tai yelled getting the 'digimon's' attention.

Glancing over at the group, Kyuubi didn't even flinch as Agumon spat out a large fire ball at him with a cry of "Pepper Breath!"

One of his tails casually flicked the small flame away before grabbing the duo. "You weaklings aren't even worth the effort." He snorted before just as casually flicking them into the group bowling them all over. Before they had a chance to recollect themselves, the tails stopped glowing and dropped the boy to the ground in a puff of dust.

Not even acknowledging the others, the Kyuubi walked off into the tree line and seemed to just vanish. "Well, ow, that was a thing." Matt said with a cringe as he held his side where Tai's head had collided. Sora was the first to fully recover her bearings and rushed over to the unconscious boy.

"Um, guys, you might want to see this." She called getting all their attention as they came over only to gape in shock once again.

"At least he isn't hurt anymore." Once again Gomamon was ignored.

-End Chapter-


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Feel free to comment as long as it isn't flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy.

Humon?

-Chapter 2-

-Naruto's POV-

A soft groan escaped his lips as Naruto returned to the world of consciousness. Slowly opening his eyes, his vision slowly slid into focus to reveal a bright metal room with lots of windows. At first, he thought he was in the hospital after nightfall, but dismissed that possibility from the lack of chemical sterility smell.

Before he could ponder on it further though, a young girl wearing a blue helmet popped into his view causing him to yelp in surprise. "Oops, sorry didn't mean to startle you." She apologized, carefully knelling down next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got ran over by boss toad," Naruto said missing the confused look on her face as he tried to shift onto his back only to yelp again as a sharp pain shot up his spine.

Wondering what caused the pain, memories of what happened earlier, particularly what he heard the kyuubi say rapidly played through his head as he shot up. Trying to stand up, he suddenly lost his balance, falling to the ground only to catch himself and froze. The first thing he noticed was he now had a right arm again, the problem… both it and his left arm were almost entirely covered in golden fur, running up to just a few inches below his shoulders and down to his hands and fingers where it shifted to a sparkling white. At the tip of each finger was a curved half inch black claw that gleamed in the sunlight.

Breathing heavily as panic rushed through his body, he slowly turned his head backwards to see long gold furred, white tipped tail swinging idly behind him.

"… … … …AHHHHHHHHHH!"

-Sora's POV-

Sora winced as the boy's scream rang loudly through the tram, followed by banging and crashing as he scrambled across the room, seemingly trying to run away from the additions to his body. Not knowing what to do and having no one to help her, the others had all left to go search for food while she watched him, Sora could only watch helplessly as the boy eventually wore himself out, ending up curled into a ball in the middle of the now trashed area.

She finally snapped out of her stunned state as light sniffles reached her ears. Slowly approaching the curled-up blond, she crouched down by his side while trying to think of a way to help. Not much was coming to mind though, given that she knew literally nothing about the mysterious blond, not even his name.

"I'm a monster… they'll never let me back now… I'm a monster…" He repeated in a broken voice as tears poured don his whiskered cheeks, his clawed hands gripping his head hard enough to draw blood. Seeing this, Sora immediately grabbed his arms and pulled them away with great difficulty.

"Hey! Easy there, hurting yourself not going to help anything." She said, getting the boy out of his stupor.

Deciding to just wing it, she gently pulled the boy into a hug and slowly rocked back and forth as she lightly scratched one of the fluffy pointed ears resting atop his head. Feeling him stiffen, Sora started to worry she'd done the wrong thing before feeling relieved as he slowly relaxed into her grasp and settled down.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked, with her response being a shrug.

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked back. He didn't have a response, and they just sat their quietly for a few minutes. Eventually, he pulled free from her grasp and shakily pulled himself onto one of the benches. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he looked directly at her, revealing his left eye to now have pitch black sclera instead of the normal white.

"…thank you," He said quietly, leaning back into his seat and stared at his slightly bloodied… hands? Paws? Sora smiled as she sat down next to him,

"No problem, my names Sora by the way, Sora Takenouchi."

"…Naruto Uzumaki," He told her, looking up to give her a small smile before looking back down.

-Neutral POV-

"Hey Sora! We're back, and we got some grub!" Tai called as he walked into the tram with the others, only for them all to stop at the site of the trashed inside and the duo sitting to the side.

"Hey, your awake, guess we missed the wake up call. Nice to meet'cha, the names Gomamon." Gomamon introduced as he waddled over and pulled himself onto the bench.

Naruto tilted his head curiously at the seal-like creature, he hadn't seen a summon like him before. "Hello," This stared off the whole chain as everyone started introducing each-other. Tai seemed confident yet brash, Matt reminded him of a much less broody Sasuke, Mimi was a nice girl but scared him a little when she went fangirl over his tail, Izzy kept poking and prodding him while asking questions and saying things that made his head swirl, Joe was also okay though a bit paranoid, and T.K. kept going on about how cool he looked.

"So, who was that digimon that attacked you, I've never seen one like him before." Tentomon asked as he buzzed curiously around Naruto's head.

"Digi-what now?" Naruto asked looking to Sora who shrugged.

"That's what the local inhabitants of the area seem to designate themselves as from what we can tell. The seven of us were dropped off here earlier today from a freak meteorological event and were in the middle of determining a route to our previous location when we found you." Izzy explained, only to get a blank look from Naruto.

"It's what we call ourselves and their lost," Gomamon summed up for him, getting Naruto to 'oh' in understanding as Izzy just sighed. "Now seriously, who was it? I owe him one for tossing my buddies aro-"

"Don't, he'd kill you all in an instant. You're lucky to be breathing right now." Naruto cut in, the seriousness in his voice causing both human and digimon to gulp.

Not one to be deterred easily, Gomamon smirked, "Oh yeah, I betcha I could take him, he doesn't look that tuff." "Naruto opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a loud growling noise.

"Gah! Are we under attack!?" Tai said as he looked out the windows with the others until they realized the growling came from inside as it sounded again.

Turning to the source, they were met with the gaze of an embarrassed Naruto as he held his stomach. "You wouldn't happen to have any ramen, would you?" He asked sheepishly.

This caused everyone to chuckle loudly before they all headed outside where small piles of fruit, mushrooms, and fishes laid next to an unlit fire that Agumon quickly fixed with a cry of "Pepper Breath!". Eating their fills, Naruto stayed mostly quiet as he stared at his reflection in the water. Not only had his physical appearance changed, his old clothes had somehow been replaced with a blue tee-shirt with an orange jacket both with short sleeves, dark blue pants with a kunai holder strapped to his leg, and black and orange sneakers as Tai called them on his feet.

' _Man, now how am I going to become Hokage?'_ He thought sadly, before suddenly cheering up. _'Duh! Tsunade-Obachan will be able to put me back to normal! She was able to fix Lee after all.'_ With new encouragement running through him, Naruto stood up and walked a short distance away getting everyone's attention at his sudden happy attitude.

"Wasn't he super sad a second ago?" Palmon asks, her flowery head tilted in confusion as nobody responded.

Biting his thumb to draw blood much to their shock, he quickly went through a few hand-signs as he drew out his chakra before slamming his hands against the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" He yelled causing a large puff of smoke to appear. When the smoke cleared however, Naruto's happy expression dropped as he saw the small tadpole wiggling on the ground before vanishing in another poof.

"…"

"…"

"Not this shit again!"

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry if this was a bit crummy, I'm still working on emotional bits so any advice would be welcome. If you haven't figured it out, his current appearance is based off Renamon from digimon Tamers. To those who didn't understand Naruto's initial reaction, he's grown up being ostracized for holding the Kyuubi, so you could imagine wat would happen if he were to walk into Konoha looking the way he currently does, something even Naruto could figure out. Though just like he does in canon he bounced back after a little bit. Thank you for reading and please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for your comments/suggestions:

Kaylafike500, Thunrady, and Ortizale317

Please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 3-

"Summoning Jutsu!"

*Poof*

"Damnit! Summoning jutsu!"

*Poof*

"GAH! Why won't it work! Summoning Jutsu! Summoning Jutsu! Summoning Jutsu!"

The group of the kids and their digimon watched as the partially foxified blonde smashed his hands into the ground repeatedly. Each time, a cloud of smoke would burst into existence only to reveal a small tadpole squirming around then puffing away. Growling in frustration, Naruto actually punched the ground causing a small crater to form.

Panting heavily, he barely reacted when a hand clasped onto his shoulder. "You should rest, you're clearly exhausted." Joe said, only to get shrugged off as Naruto bit his thumb again. Sighing, joe walked back to the group and whispered something in Palmon's ear getting her to nod. Going through the hand seals, Naruto surged his chakra again and prepared to release it, but was cut off by a cry of "Poison Ivy!" as purplish green vines suddenly grabbed him from behind and tied him up.

"What the hell!?" Naruto yelled while trying to struggle free, nut had little success do to his exhausted state. The vines dragged him back to the group and plonked him down next to Mimi and Izzy, the former whom immediately latched onto his tail and began snuggling and petting it sending an odd tingling sensation up Naruto's spine.

"H-h-h-hey… st-t-t-top-p-p tha…" He trailed off as his head fell onto her lap and a deep rumbling started echoing from his chest.

"Ohmygosh! This is so adorable!" Mimi squealed as she held the tail closer to herself as she pets every inch, then moving to his ears. Regaining control of his faculties with an embarrassed blush, Naruto tried to get back up only to find himself stuck in the pink loving girl's surprisingly strong grip.

Resigning himself to his fate, he settled down and watched as the others idly talked to themselves. Hearing several of them grumbling about still being hungry, mostly the digimon, he dug around in his pockets till he found a small scroll thankfully still intact in one of them. Thankful for Tsunade literally beating the importance of knowing how to use and having storage scrolls into his head, though with little success till Shizune mentioned something that never fails to inspire the whiskered blonde, Naruto reluctantly unrolled the scroll for the whole group to see.

They all looked confused at what he was doing as he place his hand onto an odd set of doodles, that is until a **humongous** pile of instant ramen cups and a kettle appeared into existence with a puff of smoke. Eyes bulging visible, everyone turned to Naruto who was scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "What, ramen is the greatest food ever." He said with a grin.

Matt was the first to break out of his shocked state as he walked over and poked the pile curiously before turning back to Naruto. "You know what, I give up, nothing in this place makes sense." He said with a wave of his arms as he scooped up a few of the cups and the kettle.

This seemed to bring the others back to reality as they all quickly snagged up several cups apiece. By the time they all had some, Naruto was mentally crying as his stash had been reduced to a third, though he was thankful that Mimi had finally let him go. Within a few minutes, everyone was happily chowing away as they chatted with the blonde, mostly about his abilities. "You're a ninja? Really?" Tai asked in disbelief as the blonde nodded happily.

"But aren't Ninja's supposed to be like dressed in all black and be super stealthy? And when did being a ninja mean you could make tadpoles and food appear out of thin air?" This time Tai gestured to how Naruto as resealing his remaining ramen and kettle back into the scroll.

"First of all, orange is awesome!" Naruto said with pride as he puffed his chest, "and second, Ninja's can do all sorts of things with our chakra." Unfortunately for him, this answer only confused the them even further.

"Chak-what now?" Agumon asked with a tilted head. Naruto opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to the punch by Izzy.

"Chakra is a concept of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, it's a node of energy that is inside of the nonphysical body that connects the meridian system (I apologize if that is wrong, I used google search)."

Naruto looked at the boy with a look that clearly said 'WTF'. Raising his hands into a cross, he called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." In a puff of smoke an identical clone of himself appeared next to him, at this point only T.K., Mimi, and Joe showed any shock at this. The original held his hand up as the clone started jabbing at the air around it.

After a few seconds, the kids and digimon alike were in awe as a spiraling ball of energy formed in Naruto's hand while the clone dismissed itself in a puff of smoke. "Chakra," Was all he said before dissipating the technique and sitting down again.

No more questions were asked as the sun fully set and everyone decided to call it a night while Tai and Agumon volunteered to take the first watch. Laying down inside the tram car, Naruto watched quietly as the others drifted off to sleep, Mimi convincing him to let her use his tail as a pillow with the ever dreaded 'Puppy Dog Eyes no Jutsu', except for Matt and Gabumon, the former leaving to go play his harmonica while the latter followed.

He himself was having difficulty going to sleep himself as with nothing else to keep him distracted, the full course of events of what had happened crashed into him like a bull. Phantom pains shot through his arm, chest, and eye as the memory of those injuries played through his head. If that wasn't enough, he was starting to have a very bad feeling about getting home. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but it struck him as odd now that he could still do the Rasengan and Kage Bushin just fine and yet his summoning Jutsu was a complete flop.

At first, he thought it was simply the fact that he no longer held the Kyuubi that it didn't work right but then his other jutsu should have also been disasters as well. Add in a group of people who don't even know what chakra was and weird animals that he was certain now weren't summons, and Naruto was stuck with an extremely confusing situation that was giving him a massive headache trying to figure out.

He was suddenly jarred from his thoughts when a loud roar rang out followed by the tram shaking violently, waking everyone else up. Rushing outside, the group was shocked to see the ground they were on moving towards the middle of the lake. "What's going on?!" T.K. cried in fear as he held tightly onto Patamon.

*Sploosh* **"RAAAAH!"** His answer came in the form of a massive green serpent with a yellow head bursting out of the water with a roar.

"It's Seadramon!" Tentomon cried out as he floated next to Izzy. "He's as mean as they come but not very smart! I don't think he even knows we're here!" Just as he finished saying this, Murphy decided to rear his big ugly head as the Seadramon looked right at them and roared again.

"Well, now he does!" Naruto yelled back sarcastically, making the bug digimon to somehow give a sheepish look.

Dislodging the island from its tail by going between two oddly place cable towers, Seadramon submerged itself. Seconds later, the entire island they were on shook violently as the serpent slammed into the side. "He's trying to sink us!" Tai yelled as the island shook again. "Agumon, you need to digivolve now!"

"I can't, I'm still too tired from earlier today!" Naruto was lost at what they were talking about, but didn't have time to question it as a massive wave washed over them.

"AHH! Help me!" T.K. yelled as he was knocked into the water and pushed away. Patamon was trying to help but didn't have enough strength to pull the boy to shore.

"Hang on T.K., I'm coming!" Matt, who'd been left on the shoreline with Gabumon, yelled out as he dove into the water and swam as fast as he could. Gabumon stayed behind, worried about his fur smelling if it got wet.

Seeing Seadramon heading towards T.K. and how far Matt was, Naruto quickly formed a clone and both ran onto the water. "Seriously? He can walk on water? What can't he do?" Joe asked as they watched with a sigh of relief as the original pulled T.K. out of the water. Unfortunately, the clone got destroyed via blunt force as Seadramon switched targets due to Matt purposefully drawing its attention away.

The massive serpent crashed into Matts location seconds later, emerging to show the dirty blonde behind squeezed by its leaf-like tail. "Oh no, whenever Seadramon catches his pray he squeezes them tight and doesn't let go!" Tentomon buzzed with panic as the others tried to think of something to do. Naruto didn't even pause as he reached the island, dropping T.K. down next to the group and charging at the sea serpent.

Jumping high into the air, Naruto crossed his hand in a familiar sign and yelled, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Several dozen clouds of smoke puffed into existence. Each drew a pair of kunai as they literally rained onto Seadramon. Naruto Prime(lol) landed near the base of the tail where Matt was held and stabbed his blades into the beast… … only to growl in frustration as they barely sunk a quarter of an inch in. His clones had similar success as they hacked and stabbed the big creature to practically no affect.

Having had enough of the pest plaguing it, Seadramon rapidly shook his body dislodging or destroying the majority of the clones while submerging the original and Matt. Holding on with chakra, Naruto kept trying to free his companion when he noticed a small device on Matts belt start glowing suddenly.

He didn't have much time to think about it as the tail reemerged from the lake and bucked wildly. Clinging on as best he could, Naruto was caught off guard when he saw a large blue and grey wolf blasting Seadramon. That distraction cost him however as his concentration slipped up and he was sent skidding across the water and crashing next to the others.

"… … …Owww," He groaned as Joe pulled him out of his crater in time to see the wolf defeat Seadramon with a blast and save Matt. It arrived at the shore as Naruto limped back to the group with Joe's help. His eyes widened in shock though, as the large wolf glowed brightly and shrank down into the familiar form of Gabumon.

"Okay, can someone explain to me what just happened."

-End Chapter-

AN: So Naruto cant summon yet his other abilities are fine. Will I ever explain why this is or be a dick and never bring it up again, when will Naruto figure out he is no longer in his world, and will Mimi ever get bored of hugging Naruto's tail. Find out next time on Drago- I mean 'Humon?'! PS I will be putting up a poll for the story pairing, suggestions will be considered, Thank you for reading and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Current poll stats: Angewomon: 11 Mimi: 8 Lilymon: 6 Kari: 5 Sora: 2

Please vote soon if you haven't

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 4-

Naruto groaned as he held his aching head. Morning had come and the group had set off to find this 'summer camp' while he tried to process all the new information he'd gotten. Not only were digimon now confirmed to not be summons of any kind, they had tried to explain the concept of digivolving to him, unfortunately even the digimon barely understood how it worked past 'friend in danger, we become awesome as Gomamon ever so eloquently summed it up.

The blazing heat didn't help as someone *Cough* Tai *Cough* had the brilliant idea to try and cut through a mini desert to get farther. Naruto was honestly curious now on how and why Gaara and his siblings lived their lives inside such a place as he wiped the sweat building in his forehead off.

Thankfully though, Joe had the smart idea of having him unseal his kettle again and using it to carry water as they trudged along, so at least they weren't to thirsty. Said kettle currently dangled from his tail, something that slightly irked him, as T.K. and Patamon got a drink.

"Oh man, what I wouldn't do for a beach to be attached to all this sand, with a nice refreshing drink stand." Mimi said as she fanned herself with her hat, getting several of the others to nod in agreement, before stopping to route around in her purse. "Oh!" Reacting quickly, the others rushed over to her to see if she was okay only to find her sheepishly rubbing her head while holding up a compass.

"I wanted to check the time, but the heat melted the numbers off." She said, getting deadpan looks all around. Watching as the compass started spinning out of control, Tai said.

"You know, for a girl with so many compasses, you'd think at least one of them would work." Izzy gave a 'Hmm' at that as he knelt to the ground and scooped a handful of sand.

"Actually, there are small bits of a metallic substance inside the sand that could be messing with the compass's needle."

"Yeah, cool, whatever, we should keep moving. The longer we stay here doddling around, the longer we stay roasting under the sun." Matt said getting the rest to remember the blazing heat as they continued along.

Nothing else happened for about two hours or so, but soon enough everyone was running out of steam. Naruto, Gabumon, and Biyomon having it the worst due to their thick fur and feathers. "SOMEBODY HELP UUUUUUUUUSSSSSSS!" ...And now Mimi was having a breakdown.

"Mimi…*huff* for the love*huff* of Kami, stop yelling." Naruto panted out as he held his aching head, dehydration really hitting him hard as he leaned on Joe for support.

"We should head back, we're already out of water and have no idea how much farther this goes!" Sora called to Tai, who was atop a hill while using his mini telescope, as she carried an exhausted Biyomon in her arms.

"Sora's right, foxy here looks ready to conk out any second now." Gomamon said while waddling next to Joe earning him a mild glare.

If Tai heard them, he didn't acknowledge it as he continued to look into the distance as he suddenly got excited. "There's a village up ahead!" He yelled down getting, missing Naruto clutching his head as he slid down the hill. "It's just a bit that ways, and where's there's a village…"

"There's people!" The other kids chorused, before flinching as Naruto literally growled at them.

"Keep. It. Down."

Being much more carefully to stay quiet, the group rushed to the village as quickly as they could. About halfway there though, Agumon pointed to the sky. "What's that?" Following his claw, the others spotted a large black object rapidly flying through the air.

"Oh, it's a UFO, that solidifies my alien abduction theory." Izzy said, only to get shot down as Tai looked at it with his telescope.

"It looks like a... like a gear," He said with surprise as they watched it fly by and crash into a mountain in the distance. "Flying gears? This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder." No one disagreed with him as they continued along, missing the sudden flash of light coming from the mountain the gear landed.

"…"

"…It looked so much bigger from far away." Tai said, standing over the grouping of huts that barely reached his chest in height. While he and the others were focused on this and the local digimon swarming around them, small pink radish shaped critters called Yokomon who Biyomon somehow knew, Naruto's gaze was locked onto something much more important to him. A small fountain with a single stream of water spraying out of it. Hobbling over, he barely registered one of the Yokomon explaining to him how a nearby volcano helped clean the water as he swallowed several refreshing mouthfuls.

By the time the other children finally noticed the fountain thanks to T.K., Naruto had gotten his fill and even refilled the kettle. "Are you sure you aren't part fish or something, cause you sure act like you are." Gomamon joked, getting laughs from most of the others including Naruto as his headache eased up a little bit.

The cheery mood didn't last long though, as water stopped spraying from the fountain. Before anyone could question it though, the entire thing suddenly started shaking and cracking. Naruto was the first to realize what was about to happen as he grabbed T.K. and Patamon and leapt away, just in the nick of time as the fountain exploded into a blaze of fire and molten rock.

Slowly standing up, Naruto winced as he felt several minor burns across his back start to rapidly heal. Looking back at T.K., he was glad to find him and his partner unharmed before looking towards the others. Sora, Matt, Joe, Palmon, and Gabumon were completely unhurt, Tai, Izzy, Tentomon, Agumon, Biyomon, and Gomamon were a bit singed and scuffed up but otherwise fine, Mimi however wasn't so lucky.

"AHH!" She lay on the ground clutching her arm, screaming in pain for several seconds before devolving into whimpers. While everyone else was frozen in shock, Naruto got to her and knelt down.

"Shhhh, easy there, it's okay… it's gonna be okay." He said in a calming voice, slowly moving the trembling girl into a sitting position while rubbing her back, mimicking what he'd seen nurses do while at the hospital to calm down patients.

Once she'd managed to settle down a little, Naruto ha her move her hand away from her arm while holding back a wince. A nasty second degree burn roughly the width of a tennis ball sat on her forearm, just below the elbow. Once again mentally thanking Tsunade, this time for teaching him basic first aid, Naruto turned to the nearest person, Joe, and said, "Get the kettle."

Snapping to his senses, Joe nodded as he hurried over to the dented container as the others crowded around to see if Mimi was okay.

"Oh gosh, are you okay?"

"That does not look good."

"I can't believe that happened."

"Do you need help, what do we do?"

"That's gonna leave one heck of a scar."

"Will you all shut up!" Naruto yelled, all the talking distracting him as he was looking over the injury, getting them all to quiet down.

"Here," Joe said meekly as he handed Naruto the kettle.

Focusing back on Mimi, he startles everyone by placing the side of his hand into her mouth. The reason for this became clear though as he opened the kettle and poured water directly onto the burn causing Mimi to whimper and squirm, her jaw clenching as muffled whimpers sounded. When he finished, Naruto pulled his already healing hand away, using it to tear off a section of his shirt and wrapping it onto her arm as a makeshift bandage.

"There, all done," He said while helping her stand up. "Now can anyone explain why that happened in the first place?" He asked while looking directly at the Yokomon.

"We don't know, nothing like that has ever happened before." One of them said, "All our water does come from Mt Mihirashi, but a Meramon that lives at the top has always guarded it and made sure everything was alright." It told them while pointing to a mountain in the distance.

"Isn't that the mountain that flying gear crashed into?" Agumon asked getting nods all around.

"It could have caused a blockage or something preventing the water from flowing properly." Izzy said before rubbing his chin. "But that wouldn't explain why the water would evaporate so sudd-"

He was cut off as a MASSIVE pillar of fire rose from the volcano as a glowing speck began descending the mountain. "Well maybe that does." Tai said as he looked through his scope. "By the way, would Meramon happen to be a tall orange guy covered in flames?" He asked getting fast nods from the Yokomon.

"Yes, why?"

"Because he's headed this way!"

"That doesn't make any sense though, Meramon never comes down from the mountain and even then, he's a peaceful digimon." At this point the speck had reached the small forested area under the mountain and set the whole thing ablaze.

"Yeah… real peaceful," Naruto drawled sarcastically as the Yokomon started scurrying around in a panic.

"Is there anywhere we could hide and wait for Meramon to leave?" Sora asked getting some of the radish like digimon to calm down.

"The lake! There's always water there!" One cried as the whole village suddenly swarmed away in one direction. Following the pink wave, the group were lead to an empty crater with an old crashed cruise ship in the middle.

"It'll have to do, he's almost here." Tai said as he and the others lead the defenseless digimon into the ship to hide. Naruto was limping along with Mimi, having not fully recovered from both his dehydration and the explosion. As they came out at the top of the ship, he was shocked to see that Meramon had already arrived and had just blasted Biyomon out of the air.

Jumping down to help, Naruto sighed in relief as Sora caught the injured pink bird before she hit the ground. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He called as several clones appeared from puffs of smoke and charged the fiery digimon only to get popped as soon as they got close from the intense heat. "Pepper Breath!" "Blue Blaster!" "Electro Shocker!" Called Agumon, Gabumon, and Tentomon respectively as they blasted the digimon with their respective attacks.

Unfortunately, this only seemed to make it worse as Meramon doubled in size from the attack. "Ha! Is that the best you can do? Fireball!" Naruto barely had time to put up a defense as a glop of flames blasted him and the digimon away.

Biting back a cry, Naruto shakily stood back up to continue, only to watch in awe as Biyomon glowed brightly.

" _Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"_

When the light died down, in Biyomon's place was a massive phoenix like bird with bright orange feathers that looked like they were made of flames and a short white beak covered in razor sharp teeth. Birdramon cawed loudly as she charged at Meramon, knocking him back several steps.

"You think that's enough to take me down! Fireball!" Birdramon flew up into the sky, carefully avoiding the fireballs being launched at her before turning around. Hovering above him, she gave an extra strong flap of her now glowing wings while yelling, "Meteor Wing!"

Several streaks of concentrated fire shot from the mighty bird's wings and directly into Meramon, causing him to rapidly grow larger until an object suddenly burst from his back. "Hey! It's that black gear from before!" Matt yelled as they watched it fly into the air and disintegrate. Meanwhile, Meramon shrunk back to normal size while holding his head and Birdramon dedigivolved back into Biyomon.

A few minutes later and Meramon was bowing before the small pink digimon as he apologized. "I am very sorry for all the trouble I caused. When that gear embedded itself into me, I just couldn't control myself at all, it drove me mad."

"It's okay Meramon, just don't go destroying our village again and we'll be fine." One of the Yokomon said as the rest nodded.

With his part said, the fiery digimon departed back towards his mountain home while the children were treated to a meal for helping save the village. "Uhhh… what exactly is this?" Sora asked as she looked over the bowl of mystery seed in her hands.

"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to it," Joe said as they passed their bowls off to the others.

When they finished, the group gathered up at the edge of the village and said their goodbyes. "It was nice to meet you all, we promise to stop by if we're ever in the area again!" Biyomon yelled as they walked away.

"Good luck, don't be a stranger." The head Yokomon called as several other gave their own cheers of support or goodbyes.

-End Chapter-

AN: Just a heads up, I injured my wrist recently so updates will be a bit slower than usual. To those wondering about Mimi's burn, one of the few issues I always had with Digimon is how the kids always seemed to just shrug off serious accidents without injuries, that will not happen in my story, the characters will get hurt, they will have to deal with actual injuries. Finally, Naruto still heals fast due to being part digimon now, just not as quickly as they seem to do. Thank you for reading and please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is okay as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy.

Humon?

-Chapter 5-

It had been several hours since they had left the Yokomon village and the desert had given way to rocky terrain with smatterings of grass and trees, and everyone was in a much better mood as they felt the temperature drop to a more bearable level. Tai had taken the lead again with Agumon, T.K. and Patamon. Matt was slightly behind them keeping a 'discreet' eye on his brother with Gabumon rambling on about something next to him, with Izzy just behind him trying to get his laptop to work while answering Tentomon's unending questions.

Naruto and Gomamon were next in line, with the foxy and seal duo laughing hysterically after Naruto told him about some of the pranks he'd pulled back at Konoha, while Naruto took an occasional glance backwards. Finally, Mimi, Sora, Joe, Biyomon and Palmon lagged in the back, Joe busy clamoring about his allergies and such while Sora and the two digimon tried to get a response from the oddly quiet pink loving girl.

Mimi had hardly spoken since the accident with the fountain, and when she did it was in a slightly subdued tone that contrasted with her usual happy, bubbly, and slightly spoiled attitude. Despite Joe's assurance that she was just going through a mild case of shock and would be better soon, Palmon was still very worried.

"Can we take a break now?" T.K. asked as he panted slightly, "My legs hurt." Nobody argued with him as they found a bit of shade under a few trees. Most of them were happy just to lie around and rest, but Izzy was still hard at work with his laptop.

"Uhg, no matter what I do, it won't work." Izzy grumbled as he typed in several commands only for nothing to happen. "I don't get it, I know nothing is wrong with this thing."

"Maybe it just needs a few good whacks, that usually did the trick for me." Tai said as he swiped the computer from Izzy and smacked it.

"Hey! Stop that, you're gonna break it!" This continued back and forth for about a minute till Matt got fed up with them.

Getting between them, he grabbed the computer from Tai and returned it to Izzy, who thanked him before blinking in surprise at his laptop. "It's working!" He said excitedly, typing rapidly on the keyboard only to droop seconds later as he looked at something on it. "And the battery is almost dead… great." Sighing, Izzy put the computer back into his bag.

Naruto looked around at the stone surroundings with a crinkled nose. The whole area they were in reeked of unknown chemicals, grease, and smog for some reason that was steadily getting stronger, and it was really beginning to make him nauseous. The cause of this was soon revealed as Tai, who had once again situated himself high up to use his scope, spotted something in the distance.

"There's smoke up ahead! I bet someone's over there!" He yelled getting everyone's attention as he pointed. Getting up and following him, it wasn't long until a grouping of buildings came into sight.

"It's some kind of factory," Izzy noted as they walk past a large chain-link fence.

"Oh! I wonder what they make! Hopefully its good accessories or new clothes, cause these ones are sweaty." Mimi said as she rushed ahead of the group, getting Palmon to both sigh in relief that she was acting more like herself and follow her in concern for her safety with Matt, Izzy, T.K. and their digimon right behind them.

"Alright, with how big this place is, we need to stick together so nobody gets lost." Joe said, missing this before Gomamon tapped his leg.

"Uh Joe, they already split up." The seal like digimon said while pointing to the big group then to the smaller one consisting of Tai, Sora, Agumon, and Biyomon going off in another direction.

"Ugh, why doesn't anyone ever listen to me? Wait, where's Naruto?"

*Blarg* "… …over here," Naruto groaned out as he continued to throw up inside a nearby, and thankfully empty, barrel.

"Oh jeez, are you alright?"

"Do I look al-*Blearg*"

Joe winced as the rancid smell of vomit reached his nose, then palmed his face once the answer hit him. ' _Duh, his senses must be overloading from this place.'_

Once Naruto's stomach had finished emptying its contents Joe had him lean on his shoulder, shuddering slightly as trace bits of vomit dribbled onto his shirt, as he led them deeper into the factory in the direction Tai and Sora went.

Naruto was in utter hell. His ears felt like someone was shoving spikes into them with drums, the smell from before was completely overwhelming his nostrils and causing his stomach to churn, and he could barely walk… again. It only got minutely better when Joe place Gomamon onto his head and covering his fox like ears with his body.

Wandering the well-lit but eerily vacant hallways, the trio eventually caught up with the others. Tai, Agumon, and Biyomon were focused on a figure jammed inside some of the machinery, while Sora heard them approaching and looked back to them. "Hey guys, what took you… uh are you okay Naruto?" She asked when she saw the pitiful state he was in.

"Just… ugh peachy…" Naruto groaned out as Joe settled him against the wall.

"Puke-y is more like it." Gomamon joked, earning himself an annoyed swat from Naruto that he just laughed off.

"Hey Joe, help me out here would ya?" Tai asked, completely missing Naruto's condition as he tried to pull the mechanical man out from the machinery that Agumon had identified him as Andromon, a friendly but unsocial digimon.

"Alright, I'll take this side," Joe said moving over to the left side of the android, getting Tai to nod.

"On three, one…" Tai started counting as they both grabbed an arm. "…two… three!" The two pulled with as much strength as they could muster, their faces quickly turning red with exertion.

*SCREEE* *CLANG*

With a loud screech of metal grinding on metal, the metal man was pulled free and the machine he was jammed in started running again. While Tai and Agumon celebrated, Joe looked back to Naruto, Gomamon, Biyomon, and Sora with a wince as he saw the foxy blonde flailing on the floor clawing at his ears. Biyomon was checking over Gomamon who laid in a crumpled heap not far away while Sora re-blocked Naruto's ears with her hands, flinching slightly as she got scratched several times before he calmed down a bit.

Once Tai realized he and Agumon were the only ones cheering, he looked around in confusion until he spotted the others. Wondering what he missed given their haggard states, he opened his mouth to speak only to get cut off by a solid *Clang*. Turned out, Agumon had been trying to get Andromon to respond with no success so took a page out of Tai's book and gave him a good whack.

It seemed to do the trick though, as the robotic digimon's eyes flickered open with a light blue glow. Getting onto his feet, Andromon stood at an impressive eight feet tall, with most of his body covered in machinery except for the lower half of his face, part of his upper arm, and one of his legs revealing sickly purple looking flesh underneath. He idly turned his head left and right before locking his gaze onto the group of children and their digimon.

"Intruders detected! Prepare to face the wrath of Andromon!" He yelled startling the group as he lunged at the closest of them, which was Tai and Agumon.

"Yikes!" Leaping back, the duo barely avoided getting hit by the crazed robot. Backpedaling quickly, Tai thought quickly before noticing a stack of metal being held up above Andromon. "Agumon! There!" He yelled while pointing to it, getting a nod from the yellow reptile digimon.

"Pepper Breath!" Snapping the chain with the fire ball, the metal beams fell onto Andromon and buried him. "Let's go, that won't hold him for long!" Agumon said, his point being proven as the metal started to slowly rise and shift. Taking that as their que, Sora and Joe hefted Naruto onto their shoulders and the group scurried off as quickly as they could.

They didn't get far however, before loud clanking steps signaled that Andromon had gotten free and was now pursuing them. "I thought you said he was friendly!" Joe said as they weaved through the confusing mess of corridors.

"He normally is! I have no idea what gotten what's gotten into him!" Agumon said back to him.

Before they could discuss this more, Andromon finally caught up to them. "There you are! Lightning Blade!" The androids hand started rapidly spinning like a top with a light blue glow. "And fire!" Swinging his arm, a translucent blue arch flew at Naruto, Sora, and Joe at startling speeds. Before either of them could react, Joe and Sora were shoved to the sides while Naruto fell to his knees, causing the attack to pass over him and fly down the corridor and explode.

' _This is a really bad idea.'_ Naruto thought as he shook off his disorientation and leapt AT Andromon, conveniently just as the power died out suddenly. Clearly not expecting this. Andromon was unable to react before the foxified blonde collided with him, causing him to stumble back. Flipping onto the android's back, Naruto wrapped his arm around his throat in an attempted strangle hold. Once his shock wore off, Andromon tried to pry him off only for Naruto jab at the exposed parts of his fingers whenever they got close.

When the power flickered back on, Naruto grew frustrated when he saw the others still standing there gawking at him and yelled, "Stop standing there like a bunch of dumbasses and ru-" *SMASH* He was cut off as Andromon finally got fed up and smashed himself back first through completely through a nearby wall. Head ringing from the sudden impact, Naruto barely had time to register that they were outside again before Andromon repeated the treatment three more times.

Barely conscious now, Naruto was just able to feel something grab his leg a before sudden sense of weightlessness came over him before everything went black.

-With Tai, Sora, and Joe-

The kids and their digimon rushed through the hole left by Andromon just in time to watch in horror as said android digimon threw Naruto across the courtyard and into a stack of oil barrels. "Naruto!" They heard someone scream from above, revealing that Matt, Mimi, T.K. and their respective digimon standing on top of one of the buildings.

Alerted by their shouts, Andromon turned to them, his chest-plate opening up as he did so to reveal two chambers. Out of these chambers, two orange, fish-like objects popped out and expanded. "Target locked… and fire!" The fish things, now revealed as missiles, flew at the higher group causing them to all jump out of the way.

*BOOM*

" _Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon!"_

Out of the smoke from the explosion, Garurumon burst forth with a roar and charged. "Howling Blaster!" He called while exhaling a freezing flame at the android. Unfortunately, Andromon simply shrugged off the attack and grabbed the wolf-like digimon when he got close. With seemingly no effort, he lifted Garurumon into the air and tossed him away just like he had done to Naruto, only this time into one of the buildings.

"Sora, go check on Naruto! Joe, make sure the others are okay!" Tai yelled as Agumon ran towards the fight.

" _Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"_

With a bright flash of light, Agumon changed from a small yellow lizard like digimon to a colossal orange dinosaur with blue stripes, his head was covered in a dark brown carapace with three horns, two at the sides of his head and one atop his nose. "Nova Flame!" Greymon inhaled deeply before breathing out a massive ball of fire.

While he and Garurumon fought Andromon, Sora and Biyomon rushed over to where Naruto had been thrown. Working together, they carefully shifted some of the barrels out of the way, uncovering Naruto's head and part of his chest. Putting an ear to his chest, Sora sighed in relief as she heard the slow, but steady, beat of his heart.

Looking back to the others, she and Biyomon watched as Andromon easily defeated both Greymon and Garurumon at the same time. Meanwhile, Izzy and Tentomon finally reappeared next to the rest of the group, with Izzy yelling about living data and such that flew over everyone else's heads.

Sora didn't bother listening past that as she had other things to worry about, such as Greymon crashing down not far from them. Focusing back on the present, her and Biyomon tried to unbury Naruto more but with little success. So focused on their work, neither noticed as a shadow starting creeping over them until it was too late.

"Intruders in sight!" Andromon yelled from directly behind them, causing them to look up in terror at the mechanical digimon towering over them as his hand started to spin. "Lightning Bla-"

"Electro Shocker!" A new, unknown voice yelled as a giant ball of static crashed into Andromon.

Turning to their savior, Sora and Biyomon were greeted with the sight of a giant bug-like digimon with two pairs of wings and arms, a large gapping maw with three jaws, and a black head piece that held a large sharp point atop it. When Andromon turned around to confront this new threat, Sora heard Izzy yell, "Aim for his exposed leg Kabuterimon, that's his weak point!"

"Got it! Electro Shocker!"

The attack hit true, causing Andromon screamed in agony before falling to the ground as a black gear burst from his leg and disintegrated. After a few seconds though, the android digimon started to get back up, getting everyone to tense until they saw the confused expression on his face. "W-where am I? What happened?"

-One short explanation later-

"My sincerest apologies, that black gear you mentioned must have rewrote all my programing and caused me to attack." Andromon said as he lifted the barrels off Naruto, allowing Matt and Sora to pull his unconscious form free and lay him down… it wasn't to pretty a sight. Almost half his face was bloodied and bruised, his arms were just as bad, his tail was sharply bent at several spaces (though it was steadily straightening out), and bits of metal could be seen poking out from various parts of his body.

"My scans say that he is healing quickly and will be alright soon. I just need to remove the shrapnel." Kneeling down next to the beaten blonde, Andromon held one of his hands over him as it glowed a light blue. With a sickening squelch noise that caused everyone else to cringe, the metal shards pulled themselves free and floated in the air for a few seconds before falling to the ground.

After checking to make sure all the wounds were healing properly, Joe and Matt each placed one Naruto's arms on their shoulders and lifted him up, Gabumon standing behind them with his tail in his grasp. "Well then, you wouldn't happen to know the way out of here would be, would you?"

-Cliff overlooking the factory-

A familiar being with nine tails could be seen observing the factory, watching the group of children's reactions as the robot digimon showed them an entrance to the sewer. The Kyuubi had been watching these 'digidestined' ever since they'd taken his former jailer into their group.

With all the information he had gained since turning himself into a digimon, he'd grown intrigued about these supposed champions of the digital world… …and so far they'd been nothing but a total disappointment.

At least, that was until he had seen what their partners could do. He had already learned the basics of digivolution, among other things, when he had absorbed some digital essence through the seal, but seeing it in action brought so many interesting thoughts. Looking upon the badly injured form of the Uzumaki brat as he was carried into the sewer, a wicked grin crossed his face.

"Yes, so many lovely ideas to test out."

-Chapter End-

AN: Sorry it took so long, I am having a bit of trouble working with so many characters at the same time. Now to start off, the results of the poll are in *twitch* and they are *twitch* a four-way tie! How is that even possible! *Twitch* Anyway, since that is how it ended, the pairing is Naruto x Angewomon x Kari x Mimi x Sora *Twitch, Twitch* yay. *deep breath* Anyway, for those wondering about Naruto's severe reaction inside the factory, have any of you seen what happens to a dog, cat, ect. In a place like that, because I have and it ain't pretty. I could excuse the other digimon simple cause they are likely either A. used to such a thing and thus not affected by it, or B. are used to their own sensitive senses and are thus able to block out or ignore the discomfort. Thank you for reading and please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate and/or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and Please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 6-

Walking down a dark, smelly tunnel known as a sewer, the group of children and digimon alike did their best to ignore the foul odor wafting all around them. Matt and Joe focused on carrying Naruto. Izzy was typing away at his computer with Tentomon hovering around him, a determined expression set on his face, while occasionally glancing at either Naruto or the Digimon. Mimi was talking about getting new clothes and such to Sora, Palmon, and Biyomon, though it was blatantly obvious that she was not really into it herself. T.K. was telling Patamon, Gabumon, and Gomamon all about the videogames he missed playing at home, meanwhile Tai and Agumon took the lead as usual.

This was the sight Naruto was greeted with as his slowly returned to consciousness. "Ugh, what hit me? And what the hell is hat smell?" He groaned out, getting the group to stop. Helping him get standing onto his own two legs, though he still needed support to stay up which Matt and Joe made Mimi do, the group quickly caught him up on what happened while he was knocked out. "Huh, shame I didn't get to -what are you doing?" Naruto started to say before Izzy suddenly jabbed a cord into his hand that was connected to his laptop.

He barely registered the pain of it, he had to bite his own thumb open just to use his summoning jutsu after all. What bothered him was that Izzy had done it without warning him first. "Testing a theory," The tech savvy kid said quickly as he went back to typing, ignoring or oblivious to the odd, annoyed in Naruto's case, looks he was receiving.

Crowding behind him to see the screen, they were surprised to see a model of Naruto appear form with the sections of his body highlighted in either blue or green. "Hmm, looks like I was only partially right,"

"Partly right about what?" Naruto asked getting really annoyed by the lack of explanation.

"When we were at the factory, I discovered that this whole world and everything in it is made of living data." Izzy said as he without looking away from the computer. "Which in hindsight is kind of obvious considering the locals refer to it as the digital world, and themselves as digimon which is short for digital monsters."

"That… is actually a fair point," Sora admitted sheepishly as everyone but Naruto nodded.

"Can you get to the point on why you had to stab me in the hand?" Naruto asked, all the techno-babble flying over his head.

"I was getting to that, I believed that when you were changed by that digimon when he was badly injured…" All the kids except Naruto and Izzy turned green as they remembered Naruto's condition. "…that it did so by turning him into a digimon himself."

He gestured at the screen, "And I was right, sort of. Naruto is still part human, but a large portion of your body is now composed of… pure… data." He trailed off with a groan as his computer screen faded to black. Pulling the cord out and putting the computer away with a sigh Izzy continued, "According to the readings, you are roughly half human and half digimon."

"Does that mean he could digivolve as well now?" Palmon asked, getting Izzy to shrug.

"Not a clue, I don't have nearly enough information on digital biological structure to even understand how a digimon manages to digivolve, let alone trying to comprehend that possibility with hybridized data formed inside of a human's anatomical structure."

*Insert Cricket sound* "…"

"…"

"I need to know more about digimon first before figuring that out," Izzy simplified getting an 'Oh' from everyone else.

"Why didn't you just say that before?" Gomamon asked getting Izzy to sigh once again as they trudged along.

About half an hour later, Naruto was able to walk on his own again though Mimi stayed close just in case. He was currently listening as the other kids talked about things they missed from home. Tai missed something some game called Soccer and hot baths, for Matt it was steak, T.K. mentioned video games again. Sora told them about how she used to sing while hanging laundry to dry, Mimi spoke about her love of the beach, Izzy talked about looking at the stars and planets, and Joe missed *shiver* homework of all things.

"What about you Naruto, what do you miss from home?" Tai asked, getting everyone to look towards him.

"Ichiraku Ramen! It's the best food ever!" Naruto said boisterously with a big smile and his hands in the air, getting the others to laugh or giggle at his antics as they continued onwards, all but Mimi missing as his expression drooped while he gazed at his hands.

' _I'll make it so you can never go back to that precious little village of yours…'_ The words of the Kyuubi rang through his mind as he flexed his furred fingers. Shaking his head clear, Naruto noticed the concerned look Mimi was giving him and quickly changed the topic.

"How's your arm?" Blinking in surprise, Mimi's hand covered up the bandaged part of her arm unconsciously.

"It's fine… just stings a little." She mumbled softly as she rubbed the area with a wince. Naruto started to respond but froze as his ears twitching rapidly.

"Guys," He called out getting everyone to look at him as he looked behind them while pulling out a kunai. "We have company."

Out of the shadows behind them, crawled out dozens of green slug-like creatures with purplish blue backs and bulbous red eyes. "Numemon, disgusting sewer dwellers that love to cause mischief." Palmon said as the group back away slowly, before quickly running away as the Numemon charged while hurling piles of purple poop at them.

Dodging, weaving, and gagging whenever some of the poop hit them, the group were just starting to run short on breath when they suddenly burst out of the tunnel and were blinded by the light. When their vision cleared, the kids and Digimon found themselves in a slightly wooded area with vibrant green grass and a slightly clouded sky. Looking back revealed the Numemon to have stopped just outside the suns reach with disappointed looks before they slunk back into the sewers. "Numemon hate bright areas, so we should be okay for now." Palmon explained when she noticed the confusion on the kid's faces.

Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, they continued moving forward. Naruto was more relaxed himself as he smelled the refreshing scent of woodland instead of smog and felt the cool breeze blow over him. With a sudden flare of energy, he hopped several feet straight up much to the groups shock and landed in the nearest tree.

Taking in his surroundings, Naruto noted an open field with dozens of metal rectangles just ahead of them and a cluster of colorful buildings even further away and slightly to the left. Seeing nothing else of interest, he dropped back down to the group and pointed. "There's a large clearing with a bunch of weird rectangle things and what looks like a town over there."

Reaching the clearing that Naruto mentioned, many of the kids saw what he was talking about. Dozens of machines with snacks, drinks, and other such things filled the area, getting many of the kids to get excited. "Vending machines! Yes! I'm gonna get a soda! And chips!" Mimi yelled excitedly as she started to run towards the closest one only to yelp as she felt something grab her by her waist. Looking down, she blinked as she saw a certain yellow tail wrapped around her torso. "Naruto! What are you- EEEEP!" Mimi was cut off as the tail tossed her back to the others while Naruto looked at the area critically, repeatedly sniffing the air while his ears twitched.

"Something isn't right here, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A single copy of himself popped into existence and looked at him before wandering over to the closest vending machine. Looking back at his creator, the clone grumbled loudly about the unfairness of things while pushing one of the buttons randomly.

*Creeaa* *Crash* *Poof*

Everyone winced as the clone was suddenly crushed into oblivion by the front of the vender falling onto it, revealing the inside to be completely hollow with a grinning Numemon inside. "Knew I smelt something foul about this." Naruto grunted with a stern look, ever since the factory he'd become much more aware of how sensitive his senses were now.

"Ooooh, it's the pretty lady in pink again! How about you drop those losers and go out on a date with me huh?" The slug like digimon asked while leering at Mimi, causing her to hide behind Naruto with a disgusted expression.

"No way you skeez! I would never go out with a gross little thing like you." She yelled back with a shiver, causing the Numemon to growl angrily.

"Little!? That's it! The dates off toots!"

"There was never a date to begin with you stinkball!" This back and forth continued for a minute or so with both Mimi and the Numemon getting progressively angrier with each-other until they both noticed the area suddenly darken a lot. Looking up, everyone was greeted by the sight of a large cloud blotting out the sun, then back down as repeated crashes showed dozens more Numemon hiding within the other vending machines.

"Charge!"

While all the kids and Digimon were ready to run away, Naruto just grinned ferally. "You wanna tussle huh, well bring it on Dattebayo! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled while forming a cross hand-sign, causing a large burst of smoke that obscure the Numemon's vision of the group. Arming themselves with more purple poop, or Nume-sludge as Biyo… oh who am I kidding its shit, the Numemon were just about to start throwing when a dozen Naruto's burst out of the smoke and started causing mayhem with the giant slugs. Meanwhile the children and their digimon ran out of the smoke and in random directions to get away.

"Why the hell did everyone split up?!" Naruto yelled/grumbled as the smoke cleared to reveal him standing there by his lonesome with an annoyed expression on his face as the last Numemon ran away screaming from his clone's assault. Focusing on his hearing to see if he could figure out which way everyone went, his ears twitched rapidly before the sound of extremely heavy footsteps registered.

' _Oh goodie, something else that probably wants to cause us trouble.'_ Naruto mentally groaned, his theory swiftly proven as yelling and explosions soon followed. "Why does something crazy in my life every five minutes?" He asked himself with a sigh as he tree hopped in the direction of the commotion.

Seconds later, he arrived at a smaller clearing to the sight of Tai, Izzy, Agumon, and Tentomon getting trapped inside bluish green heart shaped bubbles launched by a… "Seriously? A giant teddy bear?" Naruto asked incredulously as the yellow and white bear digimon turned to him with creepy looking red eyes.

"Hi, nice to meet you! Let's have fun!" The bear said in a cheerful voice before blasting the tree Naruto was in with lasers shot out of its eye getting Naruto to leap down.

"Alright then, if that's how you want to play, then let's play you overgrown baby toy." Naruto said as he jumped right at the bear digimon.

"Hug of Love!" (Legit attack) The bear yelled as it tried to wrap its arms around Naruto as he landed on the digimon's chest only to fail when Naruto pushes off, leaving a small red slip of paper on his chest. As soon as he landed, Naruto flattened himself to the ground and put his hands in the tiger seal.

"Katsu!"

*BOOM*

Coughing slightly from the smoke, Naruto wasted no time dashing over to where the others were trapped. Reaching Izzy, he drew a kunai to pop the bubble holding him only to realize to late he had broken the number one rule of being a ninja, never take your eyes off the enemy. "Heart Attack! Him!"

-Mimi and Palmon-

Mimi felt extremely uneasy as she and Palmon wandered through the now identified Toy Town. For the last few hours they had been avoiding a giant teddy bear digimon called Monzaemon who they only just got away from thanks to the battered Numemon helping them in return for 'never letting the blonde fox devil loose on them again' and going out on a date, which she instantly shot down again. Now she was stuck watching as the other children that Monzaemon captured run around the colorful town with faux happy faces as they 'played' with the toys there.

"This is so creepy," She shivered as Matt ran past her yelling about how much fun he was having while a toy train chased after him.

"Yeah, they're like zombies or something." Palmon said, keeping close to her partner's side as they looked around, neither of them noticing how the ground they walked on was painted to look just like Monzaemon's face or how the eyes glowed ominously as they left.

Walking down one of the many streets, the duo was passing by rather bland building when several familiar voices reached her ears.

"Help!"

"Get us out of here!"

"Get off my foot!"

Heading into the building, Mimi and Palmon were greeted to the sight of a large red chest that was shaking around and where the yelling came from. "Guys?"

"Palmon?" Agumon's voice responded.

"Yeah, it's me and Mimi."

"Great, you gotta bust us out of here, it's really cramped!" Gomamon voice yelled this time. "Unfortunately, Monzaemon has the key. By the way, how's Naruto hanging?" Gomamon's laughter echoed within the chest followed by a loud swatting sound. Confused at what the seal digimon meant, Mimi finally noticed a soft jingling sound above her and looked up.

"EEEEK!" She shrieked when the bound form of Naruto gazed back at her with a dull look as he dangled from the ceiling in a ludicrous amount of chains by his feet.

"Mdhskdh, hfnndh." He mumbled out through the large gag stuffed into his mouth. Once she recovered from her initial shock, Mimi had Palmon grab Naruto with her 'Poison Ivy' and then climbed up it to untie him.

Once free, Naruto fell to the floor in a crouch and rubbed his ankles while Mimi descended back down the vines. "Thanks Mimi, the blood was really starting to rush to my head." He said, wrapping an arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, missing how he caused the girl's face to match her outfit.

"N-no pr-problem, we should hurry up and g-get the key." She stuttered slightly while quickly pulling free.

Looking away to prevent him from seeing her blush, she led the way back outside only to freeze as they came face to face with the bear digimon himself looking at them while holding several heart-shaped balloons, a small gold key dangling from a chain around his neck. "Oh, leaving so soon?! But you just got here!" Monzaemon yelled as he released the balloons and started blasting at them.

Thinking quickly, Naruto scooped Mimi up into his arms in a bridal carry, getting a startled yelp from her as he did, and hopped away from the onslaught. "Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled as her vine like fingers extended towards the key, only for them to get grabbed by Monzaemon and use them to fling her into a nearby building with a crash.

"Palmon!" Mimi yelled, then screamed as Naruto jumped several feet into the air to avoid a swarm of heart bubbles. Landing near where Palmon was, both sighed in relief as the plant digimon get up, a bit scuffed up but otherwise fine.

"This is getting us nowhere, we need to…" Naruto trailed off as he and the two girls saw the Numemon swarm out of the sewer grates and attack Monzaemon with poop.

"Come on doll, we can run away together!" A Numemon, the one that keeps hitting on Mimi, called from the sewer grate closest to them as the others formed into a wall to prevent any more heart bubbles from reaching them.

"Thanks for the help and all, but what part of no do you not understand!" Mimi yelled back as a vein bulged on her forehead.

"Oi! Is this really the time for that?!" Naruto interrupted as he hopped out from behind the crumbling wall of Numemon. It was then that Mimi noticed just how heavily the blonde was breathing, having forgotten that he had already been in bad shape due to his encounter with Andromon despite his fast healing. Being forced to haul her around while avoiding explosions so soon afterwards was quickly draining him of what little stamina he had recovered.

Seeing the sorry state he was in, Mimi felt guilty as it was her fault that Naruto had to work so hard to keep her safe. Wishing desperately that she could be of some help, the pink loving girl and blonde fox boy paused in surprise as a bright light shot from the small device strapped to her purse and engulfed Palmon.

" _Palmon digivolve too… Togemon!"_

Naruto and Mimi felt their jaws hit the dirt as Palmon turned into a two-story tall giant cactus, with huge red boxing gloves for fists, two short stumpy legs, and large dark holes for eyes and a mouth. Taking a moment to admire herself, the now named Togemon quickly put up her dukes and charged at Monzaemon. "Come on, let's have fun! It's always fun at Tow Town!" He yelled to her while launching a punch at her that Togemon blocked.

"You want to play, huh? Well how about a little friendly wrestling match, Light-Speed Punch!"

Before the bear digimon could react, several punches made themselves at home with his stomach. Winded from the assault, Monzaemon stumbled back while holding his gut, leaving him wide open to a sucker punch to the face. "Just cause I'm a lady, doesn't mean I'm some pushover. Now how about a little Needle Spray!" Thousands of needles flew from Togemon's body and embedded themselves into Monzaemon, causing him to howl in pain as he fell to the ground before his back burst open revealing a black gear that disintegrated.

"Thank Kami that's finally over." Naruto sighed, setting Mimi down before falling onto his ass with a sigh as they saw Togemon devolve back into Palmon.

-Few minutes later-

"I am so sorry for attacking you, I don't know what got into me. I hate violence." Monzaemon, who was sitting before the freed digimon and children as Palmon helped pluck out the last few needles still imbedded in him, said while rubbing his head.

"I'm pretty sure it was that black gear, that's the third time now that we've ended up encountering one and each time they caused us nothing but trouble." Tai said getting agreement all around.

Monzaemon went on to explain how he had created Toy Town for all the abandoned toys in the world before apologizing several more times, one of which he used a move called heart hug which was basically the same as Heart Attack but with pink heart bubbles that made the person caught in it feel extremely happy, though not enough for Mimi to not deny Numemon a date again while giving him an eyelid pull taunt.

If any of them had been paying attention, they would have noticed the glowing red eyes staring at them from the shadows of one of the buildings, more specifically at a certain whiskered teen and the now bashful pink-lover chatting together as the group said goodbye and continued.

-End Chapter-

AN: Due to the numerous complaints and PMs, both for and against the pairings. I have decided to compromise and change to Naruto x Mimi x Kari as it got the most demands and that's final. If you aren't satisfied with that, I'm sorry but I can't please everyone. In other news, I will now be posting story ideas/challenges on my profile page that I just don't have the inspiration to write myself but others might, so if you like one of them then feel free to try it. Thank you for reading and please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Feel free to comment or criticize as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 7-

-Last Time-

 _If any of them had been paying attention, they would have noticed the glowing red eyes staring at them from the shadows of one of the buildings. More specifically, at a certain whiskered teen and now bashful pink-lover as the group said goodbye and continued onwards._

-Present-

Most of the kids and digimon shivered as they walked. Somehow, the weather had climate had drastically changed from a warm summer to a snow filled winter within minutes, catching the group by surprise. The only one's not shivering were Naruto, Biyomon, Gabumon, and Gomamon thanks to their fur/feathers acting as insulation and keeping them warm. The others were all wrapped up in colorful blankets that Joe had Naruto seal away while at Toy Town, but it was clear that the thin fabric they were made of was only doing so much against the biting cold.

"We s-should head b-back, w-we're all going to ge-get pneumonia at this rate." Joe said with chattering teeth as he gripped a navy-blue blanket around himself as tightly as he could.

"He's right, you guys are getting worse by the second." Naruto said, lifting an embarrassed T.K. into his arms while he laid his tail on Mimi and Izzy's shoulders to help keep them warm. Sora, Joe, and Matt, though very reluctantly for the latter, huddled close to their respective digimon for the same reason as the remaining digimon sans Agumon grouped together.

"No, we should continue forwards while we have the time." Tai argued back to them as he and Agumon trudged on ahead, his forest green blanket flapping wildly behind him.

' _Ugh, that bull-headed, stubborn idiot_.' Naruto thought with a twitching eyebrow as he and the others struggled to catch up to the goggle wearing boy, before he shook off a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. ' _Why do I have the oddest feeling of déjà vu?'_

Shaking off the peculiar thought, Naruto paused as his nose picked up the familiar smell of a hot spring nearby. He wasn't the only one though as Agumon stopped to take several whiffs of the air before getting Tai attention. "I smell something warm," Without further explanation he rushed on ahead with everyone else quickly following after him.

Sure enough, the air quickly heated as several pools of boiling water came into sight. "Finally! I can take a bath!" Mimi cried happily as she dropped the pink blanket she had and ran towards the springs. Reaching the closest pool though, Mimi recoiled and fell onto her butt as the steam coming from it rolled over her.

"That water is way too hot to bathe in, I'd be turned into boiled vegetables." Palmon said as she helped Mimi back up, while the girl pouted.

"Oh, and I was so excited to be clean again."

While those two were pondering over their wish for a bath, the rest of the group had moved over to a different pool where a refrigerator of all things was sitting next to it, which Joe and Tai quickly got into an argument on whether or not it was a trap. So into their little spat, both of them completely missed as Naruto simply created a clone to test it for them, or how he, Sora, Matt, Izzy and T.K. were quickly getting to work cooking some of the dozens of eggs they found inside in various ways.

Izzy and T.K. rigged together a simply net and rope to boil the eggs, Sora and Matt used some of the heated stones to fry and scramble some, while Naruto carved some rudimentary chopsticks and plates using his claws with Biyomon and Gabumon's help.

When the arguing duo finally noticed, the food was almost finished and everyone was gathering around a large flat stone that was being used as a makeshift table. Walking over and taking a seat themselves, the group talked about their favorite ways to eat eggs. Some were normal like Joe liking plain eggs or Tai with ketchup, and others were rather odd like Mimi wanting whip cream and strawberries and T.K. liking jelly beans and syrup.

Halfway through the meal though, Joe had a small breakdown when the others said he needed to relax and proceeded to tell them off for not being cautious enough. With yet another argument breaking out, none of them noticed Palmon whisper something into Naruto's ear getting him to nod with a smile as they left.

"I'm just saying, we have been way to careless with how we're acting." Joe finished as he turned away with a grumble, only to blink in surprise at what he saw. "Uh Naruto, what are you doing?" He asked, getting the others to follow his gaze. A half dozen of his clones were tying up several of the blankets to crude posts that were stuck into the ground while the original and Palmon were attaching his kettle to a separate post from a makeshift hook with a piece of rope dangling from it.

"Palmon asked me to help set up a shower so we could all clean up a little," Naruto said as the clones finished, leaving a single flap to act as a door. Making a few more adjustments he gave the rope a gentle tug, pouring a small amount of water onto his hand with a nod. "We just got to let the water cool a little more and-ooof!" He was cut off as Mimi zipped over and gave him a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said rapidly while jumping up and down then moving to Palmon and giving her the same treatment. Faster than most of them could blink, Mimi then vanished into the newly made shower and closed the flap, and within a minute soft humming and the sound of splashing water filled the air.

"I'll… just go now," Naruto said as he slowly backed away as memories of angry bathing women beating the ever living shit out of him flashing through his mind, while Palmon took up guard and refilling the kettle whenever it was out.

"I've been meaning to ask," Tai started as Naruto rejoined them at the table, "but why were you chained up to the ceiling instead of being all zombie-fied or stuffed in the chest with the rest of the digimon back at Toy Town?" He asked getting everyone to turn to the fox boy who rubbed the back of his head with a grin.

"Oh, well when Monzaemon tried to do that weird mind control mumbo jumbo on me, it didn't quite work and just made me with a major headache. He tried to shove me into the chest after that but I didn't fit with the others in there so he tied me up and hung me up instead." Naruto told them, getting nods acceptance from the others.

Just as Izzy started on one of his long-winded explanations on why that probably happened, Palmon once again approached Naruto without notice. "Hey Naruto, I need your help again real quick. Do you mind?"

"Not a bit, what'cha need?" He asked back, getting Palmon to smile with a sigh of relief.

"My roots are sore from walking all day and the cold. I just need you to stand by the shower and refill for Mimi while I sit for a bit, thanks." As soon as the words left her mouth, Naruto's entire face turned an odd mix between a blush and pale as he sputtered out nonsense.

Unfortunately, by the time he managed to compose himself the plant digimon had already walked over to the rest of the group and sat down. Resigning himself to his fate with a sigh, Naruto shuffled over to the flap and stood facing away in front of it. Because of his depressed state, due to the fact he was certainly about to get beat up, Naruto didn't notice as his tail drooped behind him, slipping under the flap and onto a bundled-up blanket on the other side.

-With Mimi-

Mimi sighed happily as she rinsed off the last bit of grime from the last few days off. ' _I really needed that,'_ She thought while absentmindedly grabbing the blanket Palmon put by the door so she could dry herself off.

' _I should do something nice for Naruto and Palmon as a thank you.'_ She continued as she wrapped the cloth around herself, releasing a few giggles as the fluffy material tickled her waist. ' _Oh, I know, I'll take them on a shopping spree once we get back.'_ Nodded to herself, Mimi started rubbing herself dry, giggling even more from the tickling before freezing up when she heard a sudden *Thud* near the door.

At the same time, she felt a strong tug from the blanket around her that came very close to pulling her out of the curtained area. Looking down for the cause, Mimi brain crashed as she noticed two things. A. the blanket she was wrapped with was smooth not fluffy and B. there was a familiar fluffy appendage sticking out of said blanket and leading out the flap that had partly been opened to reveal a face-down, passed-out Naruto. Once her brain rebooted, the girl quickly put two and two together and reacted accordingly.

 **"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPP!"**

-One Hour Later-

A now fully dressed Mimi sat beside Palmon as a nuclear blush adorned her face. Not only did she just rub herself all over with Naruto's tail, but after she had screamed the others had rushed over to see what was wrong only to see as she pulled said tail out of her blanket and tugged the flap back closed.

Speaking of, Naruto was stepping out of the shower, his cheeks also burning crimson as soon as his eyes met Mimi's. Everyone else chuckled or giggled at the embarrassed air around the duo, that or it was from the fur on Naruto's arms and tail being puffed out from the wash. Wanting to distract himself, the fox boy summoned a handful of clones and got to work disassembling the shower.

As he was doing so, Naruto sighed as yet another argument broke out behind him, this time between Tai and Matt over if they should climb over the nearby mountain that the digimon called Infinity Mountain. "We could get a better scope of the area from up there! Maybe even find a way back to camp!"

"It is too dangerous!"

"We'll be fine!"

Joe tried to intervene and calm things down, but ended up joining the fight instead when they demanded he take a side. Five minutes of constant bickering later, Naruto felt his eyebrow twitching as he turned around to yell at them himself… only for what he saw to make his blood run cold.

Three blood red tails were hovering directly behind the group, more specifically… "Mimi! Move!"

…his call came too late.

"Wha-Mmph!" Faster than anyone could react, the tails wrapped themselves around the girl and pulled her into the snowy forest with a muffled scream. While the others were frozen in shock and horror, Naruto didn't hesitate to rush after her. Pumping chakra into his legs, he ran as fast as he physically could, straining his ears to catch and follow the muted screams and breaking branches.

Running for what felt like hours, in reality only five minutes, he suddenly burst past the tree-line and into a large clearing. Breathing slightly heavy, he unconsciously released a quiet growl as the target of his pursuit stood before him.

"Hello ningen. Oh wait I forgot, you aren't a ningen are you, not anymore at least." Kyuubi said in a mocking tone as he stood at the center of the clearing, his tails swaying lazily behind him except for the ones holding Mimi in the air.

"Kyuubi you bastard! Let her go, she's done nothing to you!" Naruto yelled, his fists clenching tight enough to lightly draw blood at the sight of the poor girls terrified face.

"I know that, but here's the thing…" With an almost casual flick, the tails binding Mimi flung her right at Naruto, almost knocking him down before he stuck himself in place with chakra. "…you have." With his piece said, the Kyuubi glowed a brilliant crimson. When it faded, gone was the humanoid being with nine tails and in its place was a massive red fox, easily ten feet tall at least, with a black underbelly, muzzle, and pitch black flames floating around its paws and nine tails. Atop it's forehead and its shoulders was the yin-yang symbol and around its neck was an odd rope like harness with two black metal tips pointed forward.

" _Kitsunemon dedigivolve to… CrimsonKyuubimon!"_

"So I decided to have a little fun with you, let's see how long you can protect that precious little friend of yours." The now identified CrimsonKyuubimon said, his voice still as deep and booming as normal, charging straight at the duo forcing Naruto to flee with Mimi in his arms.

Unfortunately, when he tried to leave the clearing, a hexagonal energy field sprang up and electrocuted them. Stunned from the sudden zap, Naruto was left wide open for the tail that smashed into his back and sent them tumbling several feet away. "Ah ah ah, you didn't honestly think I would go through the effort of bringing you here just to let you run off like that, did you?" CrimsonKyuubimon asked sarcastically while watching Naruto get back up onto his feet.

Standing protectively over Mimi, who was nursing her arm as the force of the landing had caused several blisters on her burn to burst open, Naruto crossed his fingers and several dozen clones puffed into existence. With loud battle cries, most of the clones charged at the giant fox, only two staying behind, one to carry Mimi away from the fight and the other helping the original to form a Rasengan.

"Black Nova!" The kyuubi yelled as the dark flames on his paws flared around him and incinerated the closest clones in an instant. The remaining clones tried to attack from a distance but met with similar results as the cloned weapons dispersed from the heat. "Onyx Rain!" Dozens of mini fireballs flew from CrimsonKyuubimon's tail tips and fell onto the remaining clones before exploding violently and creating a large smokescreen. Naruto charged through the dissipating smoke, a fully charged Rasengan in hand, only to come face to face with a mouth full of flames.

"Rasengan!"

"Kitsune Bi!"

*BOOM!*

Both Naruto and CrimsonKyuubimon were sent flying back from the blast. Naruto recovered fast, flipping in midair to land on his feet and shoot back towards CrimsonKyuubimon while forming two dozen more shadow clones. All the clones paired off as they ran, with each pair forming their own Rasengan then half the clones dispersed while the remaining clones and the original jumped high and descended on the kyuubi's seemingly stunned form. "Rasengan Barrage!"

Just before they made contact though, onyx flames flared up around CrimsonKyuubimon and acted a shield and dispersing the clones. Naruto ignored the several burns he received and pushed through the barrier of flames and rammed his attack straight in the large fox's face.

"Hmmm, that actually stings a little." CrimsonKyuubimon said tauntingly before swatting Naruto away with one of his tails, leaving a small spiral mark on top of the yin-yang symbol on his head. Crashing to the ground next to where Mimi was, the clone had been dispersed while protecting her from the debris flying around, Naruto groaned as he moved his battered body back into standing position.

Mimi hid behind him, shaking with fright as the giant fox digimon walked at a sedate pace towards them. She quickly figured out that he was toying with them, and once he was bored would almost surely kill them. Naruto was exhausted and injured, Palmon and the others weren't here to help them, and even if they were the barrier would most likely stop them from helping.

Naruto panted as he struggled to stay standing. He was still okay chakra wise, but his body just wasn't recovering fast enough to keep up with the abuse it was taking. "Is this all you have? What happened to that strength you always preached about getting to protect you 'precious people'?" CrimsonKyuubimon asked with a wicked grin, "Or is it always as I said, you need me to survive, you need my power to win? Let's find out."

Naruto shoved Mimi out of the way just as the fox's fiery tails lashed out and bound him, glowing red energy pulsing from the appendages and into Naruto. "GAAAAHHH!" Said fox-boy thrashed around while screaming in agony, feeling as if liquid flames were being poured into his veins.

After several more seconds, the tail slackened their hold and Naruto was dropped to the ground by Mimi. He flailed around on the ground in a seizure as the red energy sparked and crackled around him. Moving to his side, Mimi tried to help him but flinched back as the energy flared up and sent sparks everywhere.

Forced to close her eyes and shield her face, she missed as her odd device thing glowed brightly and shot a blast of light at Naruto, but the Kyuubi didn't.

He watched with barely hidden interest as Naruto absorbed the light and the digitalized chakra he had injected into the boy was suddenly expelled from his body in the form of a red cloud that floated back into him. Eye's snapping open, Naruto shot back to his feet, completely healed up as he growled angrily while his whole body glowed pure white.

When the light cleared, Mimi gasped in shock at Naruto's new appearance. He grown at least two feet taller, his pants had turned to shorts revealing two long foxlike legs covered in yellow and white fur, both his arms had orange sleeve like covers that reached his elbows with and swirl symbol on the back of the hand. Both of his eyes now had matching black sclera, his hands and feet were alight with brilliant blue flames, and nine long fluffy tails extended from his backside with the tips aflame as well.

Vanishing in a burst of speed, he reappeared right in front of a surprised CrimsonKyuubimon, holding a familiar ball of energy only this time covered in bright blue fire. "Seirei-en Rasengan!" (Spirit Flame Rasengan, according to google translate.) Smashing the ball right in the large fox's face, directly atop where the first Rasengan hit, the ball exploded in a massive blast of blue flame.

When the light-show cleared, the Naruto could be seen standing in a large crater, while the kyuubi stood at the edge of the clearing, back in his Kitsunemon form. "Well well, I guess you took after me more than I thought. Until next time." With a casual wave of his hand, the barrier trapping them in shattered like glass, and he vanished into the shadows.

"We are nothing alike, and we never will be," Naruto growled back despite the person he was talking to being gone. Just then, the others finally showed up, running into the clearing and yelling their names. With that said, Naruto collapsed to the ground in exhaustion just as he heard the others arrive at the clearing. The last thing he was saw was a bright light and wondering to himself on when everything got so large.

-Chapter end-

AN: So it is revealed that Naruto can actually digivolve and I hope you like the form I made for him, if anyone has any suggestions on what his champion form name could be please give them. CrimsonKyuubimon is just Kyuubimon with a different color scheme. For those wondering, the kyuubi did this purely to satisfy his own curiosity on if Naruto could digivolve or not, and was trying to force him to which is why he tried to inject more data into him. For those who keep asking me to add to the pairing, the final pairing is already set, if this upsets you I'm sorry but I am not changing it. Thank you for reading and please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 8-

Naruto groaned tiredly as a bright light shined on his eyelids. With a yawn, he pulled his blanket around himself tighter and nuzzled deep into his pillow making it to giggle softly.

…

' _Wait a second, pillows don't giggle,'_ He thought blearily as his eyes flickered open to reveal nothing but pink. Confused, Naruto looked up and saw Mimi's lightly blushing face. "Mimi? When did you get so big?" He asked as he craned his neck, then blinked in confusion when his voice sounded much higher than usual. "And why do I sound so funny?"

"Um, Naruto," Tai started to say as his head popped up by Mimi's shoulder, only to get cut off.

"Tai!? You're a giant now too!" Naruto exclaimed, getting a nervous look from the boy.

"Actually, we are the same height and mass as when you last made visual contact with us." Izzy said as he and Tentomon came into sight from behind Naruto.

Pausing to mentally translate what the computer whizz said, his eye's widened dramatically once it hit him. "But that would mean…" Naruto trailed off as he finally looked down and saw his hands. Panicking, he squirmed around wildly trying to see himself more clearly, causing Mimi to lose her grip on him. As he landed on the ground, he continued to look himself over before finally screaming out, **"WHY THE HELL AM I A CHIBI!?"**

Sure enough, Naruto now stood at exactly one foot tall from foot to ear tip, with a somewhat large head with big round eyes, short stubby arms with little nubs for fingers, equally short legs that had barely seeable feet, and an extremely fluffy tail that was a few inches bigger than he was. His outfit had changed to a simple black t-shirt with an orange spiral in the middle, orange pants, miniscule black shoes, and a black and orange harness that kept his sealing scroll strapped to his back. All in all, he looked absolutely adorable, even as he rolled around on the ground freaking out.

It took nearly ten minutes for the now chibified blonde to get it all out of his system, which by then the rest of the kids and their digimon minus Joe and Gomamon shown themselves and witnessed his little episode. Taking several deep breaths to help himself calm down, Naruto slowly got up, wobbling a bit as he struggled to balance on his tiny legs.

"Okay… I'm good… I'm fine… … … Now can someone explain what the hell happened to me?" He asked while attempting to walk towards them only to end up falling backwards after a few steps from the weight of his tail. Unable to get up, he flailed his arms and legs uselessly, making him look like a turtle that's been flipped on its side. "And could somebody help me!?"

Faster than anyone else could react, Mimi leaned down and scooped him up into her arms and held him tightly to her chest. Surprised by his position, Naruto squirmed around trying to get free, again to no avail, before sighing and resigning himself to his fate. "Not what I meant exactly, but I guess it will do for now." He mumbled to himself.

What he didn't know, do to him being to busy panicking at the time, was that the whole time he'd been on the ground Mimi's face had become a mask of anxiety and her body shook slightly. He also missed how the instant she had him in her arms again though, she seemed to immediately relax albeit slightly flustered. While he was utterly oblivious, everyone else apart from T.K. noticed the odd behavior.

While the majority of them just shrugged it off as concern for Naruto, Izzy's gaze narrowed as a much more serious possibility crossed his mind. Since they had higher things to be concerned about for the moment though, the computer whizz mentally filed away the thoughts.

As they continued walking, the group filled Naruto in on about what happened after he'd passed out. After he had fought the Kyuubi, or Kitsunemon as they knew him, they had returned to the hot-spring to rest for the night, making sure to take turns as lookouts in case of more trouble. Unfortunately, while on their shift, Joe and Gomamon had the ever-brilliant idea to try and climb Infinity Mountain by themselves to 'ensure it was safe' while everyone else was sleeping.

Naturally, they had yet to return so the rest of the group now found themselves halfway up of said mountain looking for the idiots. "You still haven't answered my question." Naruto said, his eyebrow starting to twitch from lack of answers.

"My best theory is that when you digivolved last night it exhausted your current reserves of energy, forcing you to revert to a weakened state to recuper… You tired yourself out and shrank, you should return to normal after resting for a while." He began explaining before quickly simplifying himself when he noticed the blank/annoyed look Naruto was sending.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Naruto settled into Mimi's hold with a sigh. "It better be temporary. Now let's go find those two dumb-dumbs."

*Boom* "AHHH!"

"… … seriously?"

Joe and Gomamon were several yards above them, screaming at the top of their lungs as they were chased by a large white horse-like digimon with tattered grey wings, wearing a horned blood-red helmet, and had a large black gear sticking out of its back. The horse digimon, Unimon, was clearly tired of said chase as with an audible yell of 'Aerial Attack' it blasted the ground in front of them with a sphere of energy shot from its mouth, effectively cutting off their escape.

"Their trapped! We need to get up there now!" Tai yelled as they watched Unimon circle around the duo like a cat toying with a mouse before it pounces. Sora gripped her digivice tightly in her bandaged hand and looked to Biyomon who nodded.

" _Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"_

Sora, Tai, and Agumon clasped onto the giant fire-bird's legs as she took off into the air. "Alright, my tu-*crash*" Tentomon was getting ready to digivolve himself, but was cut off as Birdramon recklessly rammed into Unimon, accidently causing a rockslide.

"Get to cover!" Matt yelled as the group scrambled apart to get out of the way.

Mimi, Naruto, Palmon, and Izzy took cover behind an outcropping as the avalanche of stone slid past, shielding their faces the best they could as dust was kicked up into the air and stung their eyes. Once it passed and everything settled, all four of them could be seen coughing heavily as their bodies desperately tried to clear their lungs.

After recovering for the most part, they remained in place as several more explosions and impacts could be heard. While they sat there, Palmon and Izzy helped each-other pull out several small shards of rock that had dug into their bodies. Naruto did the same with Mimi, he himself completely fine as Mimi had ended up covering his entire small form with her own. Though the whole thing was a somewhat awkward as she still refused to let him go the entire time, which Izzy silently noted.

Yanking out the last fragment from her arm, Naruto suddenly slid to the ground when her grip loosened on reflex. Wobbling slightly, he just managed to keep himself balanced before pulling out his scroll and unsealing a few bits of cloth, passing some to the other two before stumbling back over to Mimi and helping her wrap her own wounds.

By the time he finished, the sounds of battle had stopped entirely, allowing the quartet to cautiously peek out from their cover. Seeing that the coast was clear, Naruto reluctantly allowed Mimi to hold him again as he still couldn't walk well by himself in his current state.

Clambering over and maneuvering around the debris, they managed to regroup with Matt, T.K., Gabumon, Tentomon, and Patamon. They were in the same condition with the addition of a small gash on Matt's forehead. After Naruto passed out some more bandages, they had Tentomon scout for a safe path up the mountain.

While they hiked, Naruto grew slightly bored and decided to check if his jutsus would still work in his current condition. The first thing he tested was his henge, which worked fine but startled Mimi when the chibi fox boy she was holding suddenly turned into T.K. for a few seconds in a puff of smoke before turning back, earning him a bonk on the head. Kage Bunshin also worked but was tired out from making just five clones.

When they did reach the top, it was to the sight of Tai, Sora, Agumon, Biyomon, and Gomamon peering into the distance with awe as Joe kneeled on the ground moping and slightly cradling his arm. Biyomon was the first to hear them approaching and turn to greet them only to end up squawking in surprise as she was dogpiled by the previously mentioned clones.

"This is for almost turning us into pancakes!" They cried simultaneously while pummeling away at the pink bird, drawing the others' attention to the somewhat comical sight. Sora was about to help her partner out, but paused as she heard them yelling about rockslides and close calls. Looking to the others for clarification, she flinched when she caught sight of their haggard and beat up appearances.

"Uhhh, hey guys, what have you been up too?" She asked nervously, though she had a pretty good idea at the answer from what the writhing pile of blondes in front of her were yelling.

"Oh, nothing much. Just having a relaxing climb, enjoying the view, almost getting crushed by falling rocks. You know, the usual." Matt said in a casually sarcastic tone as everyone else glared at the sheepish girl and the equally nervous Agumon and Tai.

"…oops?" Tai's response was obviously not satisfactory as the clone squad swarmed him next, leaving a dizzy and ruffled up Biyomon laying on the ground. Sora and Agumon tried to avoid their own impending doom but failed epically as they clones split up, two charging the girl while three tackled the digimon. Meanwhile, the original Naruto and the rest of the group went over to Joe and saw what he was upset about.

"We're on an island? Well that's just great, we've been wasting our time all along." Matt grumbled while rubbing his temple.

"I knew we were lost, I told you all we were lost, and now we're lost and stranded." Joe muttered back as he hugged his knees, accidentally pushing up his sleeve and allowing them to see the large bruise forming on his shoulder.

Watching as the second oldest of the group slowly rocked back and forth in a fetal position caused the others to sweat-drop. "I think Joe broke." Gomamon said bluntly as he not-so-gently poked the boy with one of his claws without response.

While they talked, a scuffed-up Tai stumbled to the edge with a piece of paper and a pen that he got from who knows where and started drawing as a just as battered Agumon peered over his shoulder curiously. This soon got the others' attention, whom went over to see what he was doing.

"What… the hell… is that?" Naruto asked with a deadpan, a look most of the other shared as they looked at the scribbled mess on the page.

"A map of the island so we don't get lost." At Tai's explanation, the deadpans deepened and large sweat-drops appeared as Joe's ranting about being lost got louder.

"There is no question man, you are the dude of doodles." Matt was on fire today with his witty remarks today.

"If you follow that map, it'll lead right to a headache." Sora not far behind as she dusted herself off from her beatdown.

"Hey, at least I can read it and that's all that matters!" Tai shot back as he folded up the 'map' and tucked it into his shirt pocket while standing up. "Let's go, we should get down from here before someone gets hur- seriously hurt, before someone gets seriously hurt." He corrected as everyone gave him pointed looks.

After getting Joe to snap out of his panicked state, the group began their long trek back down the mountain. They didn't get far though, not even reaching the path yet, when a loud growl came from ahead of them causing them to freeze. "W-w-w-w-what w-was that?" Mimi asked in a quiet voice as she clutched Naruto tightly to her chest.

Her question was swiftly answered as a tall, muscular, humanoid lion digimon rounded the corner. It had bright orange fur and a blonde mane, it wore black pants and had black belts wrapped around it right forearm and hand, a sword strapped horizontally across it's lower back, and blank eyes that stared at nothing.

"Oh, it's just Leomon, he's a good digimon, a just and fair leader." Gabumon said as he happily waved to the newcomer.

"He sure has big teeth." Sora commented nervously as he got closer and closer to the group.

"Yeah, but he mainly uses them for smiling, he's a great guy once you get to kno-"

"Must capture the children." Leomon stated in a cold an emotionless voice.

"… … … …crud."

-End Chapter-

AN: First thing, Mimi does not have princess fever! Her need to have to hold Chibi-Naruto is not romance related at all and will be explained fully next chapter. Other than that, thank you all for your suggestions for Naruto's champion form name, I honestly had a bit of trouble picking the one I thought was best and that one is… *Insert drumroll* … Hcharper131 with Teumesemon. Thank you for reading and please review.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and Please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 9-

-Last Time-

" _Must capture the children." Leomon said in a cold emotionless voice._

"… … … … _crud."_

-Now-

Everyone scrambled in the opposite direction as Leomon drew his sword and leapt at them. Tai lagged behind for a few seconds do to his 'map' flying out of his pocket towards the lion digimon. "Pepper Breath! Come on Tai, we gotta go!" Agumon yelled as he blasted Leomon with a fireball, accidentally incinerating the 'map' in the process.

Running down the mountain, they didn't even get a quarter of the way when they were cut off again. "Oh look, those kids the boss wants." Standing in their way was a tall green humanoid digimon, with gaping mouth, large black horns atop it's head, metallic spikes jutting out of its shoulders, wearing simple black shorts, and wielding a large bone with metal studs sticking out of it.

"Ogremon!" Biyomon cried as the group skid to a halt. At the same time, Leomon dropped down behind them, effectively trapping them.

"Hello Leomon, great work getting them here old buddy!" Ogremon said with a laugh.

"Must capture the children." This got Ogremon to stop laughing, sweat-dropping slightly instead as he looked back to the kids.

"Wow, real conversationalist this one." He said while pointing to Leomon.

"This doesn't make any sense, you and Leomon are mortal enemies." Tentomon said as he floated next to Izzy's head, "How could you be working together?"

"Easily, the new boss can be very… er persuasive? Yeah, persuasive." Ogremon said, stumbling slightly at the end of his sentence as he scratched his head.

"Hey, he's distracted, now might be a good time to I don't know do something!" Naruto shout/whispered getting the rest of the digimon except Patamon to nod as they glowed brightly.

" _Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"_

" _Gabumon digivolve to … Garurumon!"_

" _Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!"_

" _Gomamon digivolve to… Ikkakumon!"_

" _Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

" _Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"_

As he watched the six digimon turn into their massive champion forms, an Idea popped onto Naruto's head and he put his stubby fingers into the ram seal as best he could. ' _If I turned into this from running out of being tire then if I flare it up my chakra then…'_ "Ah-ha!" Naruto cried victoriously as his whole body glowed and hopped out of Mimi's arms just as he started rapidly growing.

As soon as he got back to full size and the glow dimmed down, an odd sensation ran up his spine him as he involuntarily said, " _ChibiNarutomon digivolve to… Kitsumon!"_ Naruto gagged slightly with a shudder as the words left his mouth. "Ugh, that was… weird."

"Eh, you get used to it." Greymon said in his now gruff voice as he, Garurumon, and Togemon stood before Leomon, ready to fight.

"It is rather annoying though, Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon said as he blasted Ogremon back.

"Stop with the pillow talk you morons and attack! Needle Spray!" Togemon yelled at them while shooting thousands of needles at Leomon who deflected them with his sword.

"Howling Blaster! What she said!"

-Top of Infinity Mountain-

"Hmm, this is bad, they've managed to digivolve." A deep voice said, the owner being a tall humanoid digimon with his whole body covered in a pitch-black leather outfit except his mouth. He had two wings with a multitude of holes, long arms that almost reached to his feet, an orange picture of a bat emblazoned across his chest and left foot, two horns sticking out horizontally from his head, and a multitude of black and brown belts attached to various parts of his body and the majority of his right arm.

Crossing his arms across his chest, the demonic looking digimon had a look of deep contemplation as he took in the fight going on below him. "They also seem to have impeccable team work, but why hasn't the Patamon digivolved?" He asked while glancing at the orange and yellow digimon clutched in the grasp of the smallest child. Looking back to the fight, his gaze narrowed further as he saw Naruto kick Leomon towards Greymon who in turn blasted the lion digimon into the cliff side with his Nova Blast.

"Though the bigger question is whom that digimon is, and how is he able to digivolve without a digidestined." The digimon grew even more interested as he saw Naruto digivolve again, this time declaring himself Teumesemon. "Best I intervene now before my minions get completely overwhelmed."

-Back with the fight-

Naruto shivered slightly as he felt the power of his new form coursing through him, while at the same time withholding a wince as the strain of using it so soon again was starting to affect him already. Wanting to end this fast, he and the others started charging their respective attacks only to be cut off by a sudden explosion above them.

"Rockslide!" Matt yelled as he and the other kids tried to find cover. Following that same instinct that lead him to use the Seirei-en Rasengan, Naruto's tails curled in front of him till the points met and a ball of pure blue flame formed.

"Seirei-en no Dangan! (Spirit Flame Bullet!)" He called as his tails sprang open, launching the sphere right at the rockslide at the same time as Greymon, Birdramon, and Garurumon attacked, knocking the kids off their feet from the blast and turning the falling rocks into harmless powder and dust.

*Cough, cough* "Everybody okay?" Tai asked as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"We're alive, *cough* okay might be stretching it a little." Matt said as he helped T.K. up. The others gave similar responses as the dust slowly cleared to reveal Leomon and Ogremon gone and all the digimon except Naruto collapsed on the ground in their rookie forms.

Naruto himself looked fine, but looking close you could see the beads of sweat starting to roll down his forehead. "We need to get out of here, now." Naruto said seriously as the fire on his tails dimmed down and picked up each of the tired digimon and handed them to their respective partner.

Not willing to argue, the group began moving as fast as they could down the mountain. While they walked though, Izzy noticed how Mimi looked like she was starting to freak out a little despite having Naruto walking right next to her. Several theories passed through his mind as his eyes narrowed slightly, before he shook off the thoughts again and focused on the issues at hand.

"We need to find somewhere to stop soon and rest." He said aloud as they entered a lightly wooded area near the bottom of Infinity Mountain. The digimon had recovered enough to walk but were clearly still tired as they practically dragged themselves along. The kids themselves were also rather tired, sore, and the majority of them were covered in scuffs, cuts, gashes, and bruises. The blisters on Mimi's burn had been torn open again, shown by the clear fluid slowly oozing out the bottom of her bandage.

The worst off though was Naruto. Sweat was all but pouring off of him, he walked with dragged steps and a heavy slouch, and the fires on his arms, feet, and tails were reduced to tiny flickers. The mere fact he hadn't dedigivolved after so long from his second time digivolving was awe-inspiring in itself.

Scratch that, Naruto's body suddenly glowed brightly as he rapidly shrank down to his chibi form, breathing heavily as he fell onto his ass. Not even a second later, Mimi had scooped him back up into her arms, almost instantly more relaxed as she snuggled the tired blonde into her chest.

"Case and point," Izzy stated as everyone else nodded.

"Well where exactly do you suggest, because I really don't feel like sleeping on the ground." Sora said, getting a few nods of agreement from T.K., Joe, and Mimi. "We probably won't have much of a choice, it's not like we're just gonna stumble upon a hotel or something." Matt said…

…Only for his jaw to hit the dirt seconds later as they did exactly that.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." He grumbled while palming his face as everyone else other than Naruto cheered happily. Noticing his lack of enthusiasm, Mimi looked down at the mini blonde to see him staring at the building with an odd expression on his face. Nobody else noticed as they had quickly gotten into an argument on if they should knock or not or if it was a trap.

"Something wrong Naruto?" She asked softly while gently nudging him, startling him from his thoughts.

"Huh… oh um… sorry, it's just this whole building seems weird, doesn't it look kinda… fuzzy?" He asked, starting to get a headache as he stared at the building. "Like uh… like looking at a picture that's out of focus."

Looking from Naruto to the building and back again, Mimi didn't see what he was talking about. "Ummmm, maybe it's just cause you're tired." As if to prove her point, Naruto released a large yawn as he unconsciously snuggled deeper into her hold.

"Yeah… your probably right," Naruto agreed as he rubbed his eyes slowly with another yawn.

By this time, the rest of the group had finally stopped arguing and entered the building. "Huh, nobodies here." Tai commented as they walked through the deserted lobby. The room was spacious, with two floors, a staircase, and numerous doors leading to other areas. While Joe walked right into the room, the rest of the kids stayed near the door with looks of apprehension. It was Tai who decided to voice what they were thinking. "This feels really fishy to me. Every time we seem to find things like this, it always ends up as a trap."

"He's right, statistically speaking there is a ninety-five point three seven percent chance of this being a machination designed to lull us in a false sense of security." Thankfully, this time the others actually understood what Izzy said so he didn't have to dumb it down.

"Look, it's completely empty in here. Where could there possible be a trap?" Joe demanded back as he gestured to the completely empty room.

"Oh wow, that's beautiful." T.K. said while pointing to the wall across from them where a masterfully made painting of a praying angel was mounted.

"What is it?" Patamon asked from atop T.K.s head as he and Mimi walked up to it.

"It's an angel, something that supposedly looks out for you and keeps you safe, kinda like you guys."

"Yeah, it's not bad. And it helps prove my point, would an evil haunted mansion have paintings of angels on the wall." Joe reasoned. "Besides, where would you rather sleep, out in the open wood with no shelter or inside a sturdy building that we could easily defend?"

"I hate to admit it, but he's got a point." Matt said as the others reluctantly agreed. "Besides, I think they already decided for us." Sora said quietly as she gestured to the digimon who had fallen asleep in a large heap, then to Mimi who just noticed the soft snoring coming from the blonde in her arms.

"Aww, he's so cute," Mimi gushed as she gently rubbed Naruto's head, getting him to gently purr as he lightly pressed against her hand. She was snapped out of her little cute trance when the digimon suddenly started to wake up while sniffing the air.

"Do you smell that?" Agumon asked as he took a deep whiff.

"No, smell what?" Tai asked back, only for Gabumon to answer.

"The delicious smell of food, that's what."

All at once the seven digimon rushed off with the children in tow, practically smashing their way through a door to reveal a long table with a full buffet set up. "Holy cow, look at all that food!" Tai exclaimed as the digimon started helping themselves without hesitation. "Wait a second guys, we don't know if that stuff is safe to eat!" He yelled, only to be ignored as they, if anything, ate faster.

Not long after that, the children's resolve broke and they too began feasting on the large spread of food happily. Figuring he would need to eat too, Mimi gently shook Naruto a few times to wake him up. "Zzzzzzzz… hmm, wha?" He asked blearily with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes.

"It's time to eat, so say 'ah'." Mimi told him while holding up a piece of chicken.

"Ah…" Still half asleep, Naruto did as he was told and opened his mouth for her to put in the food in. Chewing on the bit of chicken for a few seconds, Mimi was surprised when his face scrunched up suddenly and he spat it out. "That was a mean prank," He told her with a huff as he crossed his arms.

"What are you talking about Naruto, what was a mean prank?" She asked, surprising Naruto when he picked up the honest confusion in her voice.

"You weren't pranking me?" He asked back, getting a slow nod in response. "Then why'd you try to feed me that phony chicken?" Blinking in surprise, Mimi looked down at the partially chewed chicken and back to Naruto, neither of them noticing the attention they were getting from the others.

"But it isn't fake, see," To prove her point she grabbed another piece and popped it into her mouth. "See," Tilting his head, Naruto accepted a different piece she handed him and nibbled it slightly.

"Nope, this stuff is fake, it doesn't even have any flavor." Naruto said adamantly as he tossed it back onto the plate.

Trying various other things from the table, Naruto quickly rejected every dish after a single bite, claiming it all to be fake. Eventually getting fed up, Naruto hopped out of Mimi's arms to the floor and wobbly walked over to the door. "You guys can keep eating that fake crap, I'm going to go make myself some ramen."

Silence reigned through the room as the group sat there awkwardly. After a minute or so, most of them resumed eating, albeit at a much slower pace, the exceptions being Mimi, who was growing increasingly stressed looking and acting jumpy, and Palmon who was worried about Mimi. "I-I'm going to make sure he's uhh… not lonely, yeah not lonely." The pink loving girl said with a nervous smile as she stood up and went the same direction Naruto went, Palmon following right behind her.

Matt, Joe, and Sora watched the girl leave with looks of curiosity at her behavior, Tai, T.K., and the digimon seemed either oblivious or were just ignoring it as they returned to eating, and Izzy had a very serious expression as he stood up and walked over to Sora. "Can I talk to you real quick? Privately?"

-End Chapter-

AN: Again, really sorry if this chapter is crummy, I am still working on emotional bits. I personally am a very apathetic and neutral person so I have a lot of trouble writing things like this so any advice would be nice. Onto other topics, Naruto being able to tell the food is fake, or seeing the house as fuzzy, is because of his hybrid state, Naruto has a unique form of perception. More specifically he has two sets of perception, his original human perception and his digital half's perception. He would normally not notice any difference other than enhanced senses because they would simply overlap each other, but on something as delicate or precise as an illusion, he would essentially see two slightly different versions of it that his mind would try to process simultaneously causing the illusion to seem distorted. Thank you for reading and please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Early update since it's my Mother's Birthday and I got my Highschool Diploma

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 10-

-Baths, Girls Side-

Sora, Mimi, Palmon, and Biyomon were all relaxing inside the hot water inside an artificial hot spring made of dull grey rock. Actually, relaxing may be a bit of a stretch. Mimi looked like she was about to have a panic attack, Palmon was worrying over Mimi, Biyomon looked confused, and Sora was thinking about the conversation she and Izzy had.

-Flashback-

 _"Can I speak with you? Privately?" Izzy asked, surprising Sora and the others but she agreed and they went into a nearby room._

 _"As I'm sure you noticed just now, Mimi has been acting… peculiar." Izzy stated as he paced the room._

" _Uh, yeah, I guess so." Sora had noted the odd behavior, but at the same time, she'd only known Mimi for a few days now. Not exactly a lot of time to learn all of a person's quirks and behaviors, so she had simply shrugged it off as a combination exhaustion and stress._

" _Have you ever heard of security blanket syndrome?"_

 _"What now?"_

 _*Sigh* "Security Blanket Syndrome, a common mental disorder where someone who has gone through a traumatic incident, latches onto a certain item, usually a blanket or stuffed animal, that they personify as a sign of safety and security." Izzy explained,_

" _Ooookay, and this is relevant how?"_

" _I believe Mimi as a stage two, borderline stage three case of this."_

 _"I don't know what that means, but it sounds bad."_

-End Flashback-

It was bad. Stage two was where the person would be highly uncomfortable in most situation without the item, Chibi-Naruto in this case, nearby at almost all times. Stage three is when the person would refuse to relinquish the item no matter what.

Sora at first thought Izzy was simply exaggerating, but then she saw Mimi's reaction when they went to the changing rooms.

-Flashback 2-

 _"Whoa, Mimi, I can't go in here! Put me down!" Naruto exclaimed as Mimi was about to enter the changing rooms with the foxy chibi in her arms still._

" _Huh, what?" Mimi asked confused as she looked down at Naruto then up at the changing room before a small blush and a look of conflict crossed her face. "Um… um... um… well… I doubt it would… I'm sure it's fine."_

 _Naruto's entire face burnt crimson. "What?!" He yelled out, then calmed down a few seconds later. "Oh, I get it. Your pranking me. Gotta admit, that was a good one."_

 _This was the scene Sora walked into as she and Izzy finished talking. She was stunned to hear Mimi trying to reason taking Naruto into the changing room with her. "Not so farfetched now, is it?" Izzy whispered to her before walking over. "Hey Mimi, Naruto, what's up?" He asked casually as if he hadn't seen what just happened._

 _"Oh, hey Izzy Mimi was just pulling a good prank on me, you should have seen it." Naruto said as he finally managed to worm his way out of her grip and land on the floor with a dramatic bow. Now that she was paying attention to it, Sora easily saw what Izzy was talking about as Mimi quickly became uneasy the moment Naruto was out of her grip._

-End Flashback-

The entire time they were undressing till now Mimi had stayed the same, acting nervous, twitchy, and easily startled. Though, being honest with herself, she couldn't exactly blame her after the last few days they had. Just looking at her own hands reminded Sora of that, with the numerous deep scratches and cut that she was currently making sure were entirely clean.

Mimi was doing similarly with her own injuries along her arms and side, making Sora wince internally as it was her cockamamie idea that caused those. Another thing she noticed was that without the strap from her hat blocking the view, Sora could see light bruising around the brunette's throat, likely caused from her getting nabbed by Kitsunemon.

Izzy had suggested that being a girl herself (she'd almost slapped him for sounding sexist), she might be able to get Mimi to talk to her about what was wrong. Of course, that was all nice in theory, but she had no idea how to actually approach on this matter. She wasn't a phycologist for Christ's sake!

Panicking at what to do, Sora ended up saying, "Mimi, calm down. You're acting like your own shadows about to jump up and eat you." ' _Stupid brain! You are useless!'_ She ranted mentally as she saw Mimi become defensive.

"Huh, Whatever d-do you mean, I-I'm completely r-relaxed." Mimi said unconvincingly with a fake smile. Knowing she already annihilated any chance for a gentle approach, Sora sighed as she continued with the blunt truth.

"No, you're not Mimi. In fact, you're anything but relaxed," Grabbing her by the shoulders, she forced Mimi to look down at the water and see her reflection. "Does that look like someone who's relaxed to you?"

Mimi didn't respond, just sitting there quietly as she stared at her reflection. "Ever since last night, you've been skittish, quiet, and just plain scared looking whenever Naruto's further than three feet away and not mini sized. I know we haven't known each-other very long, but I do consider you a friend and as a friend I am really starting to worry about you." Sora told her as she placed a hand on Mimi's shoulder. "What I'm trying to say is that I want to help, but I can't do that if you keep denying that somethings wrong."

Silence once again filled the area other than the sounds drifting over from the boy's side and some light splashing as Palmon and Biyomon moved to the other side of the bath to give the two some space. "I-I-I… I'm sorry, I-I didn't m-mean to worry you." Mimi stuttered softly, her whole body shivering slightly despite the hot water.

"It's okay, now can you please tell me what's wrong, did something happen while you were.." Sora trailed off as she gestured to Mimi's neck, and the girl nodded slowly.

"I-It's just, it-it-it… it w-was s-so hor-horrible!" Mimi suddenly exclaimed as she burst out into tears while she told Sora what happened.

-Flashback-

 _Mimi struggled desperately to pull off the fluffy appendage that was constricted around her throat as she was dragged along the snow-covered ground. It wasn't long though, before she was hoisted into the air and was brought face to face with Kitsunemon._

 _"Hello, welcome to my care," He said in a mockingly kind tone as he tightened the grip around her throat for a brief few seconds before slackening it, leaving her coughing heavily. "Now, before I have to deal with any possible whining, bitching, or screaming, I would like to make something clear."_

 _Mimi had only just managed to regain her breath when an oppressive feeling flooded over her and stole it away again. She felt an all-encompassing primal fear drill itself into her body. Her skin paled rapidly as she trembled in fright, every fiber of her being told her to get as far away from this creature as quickly as possible._

 _Gruesome images flashed in her, images of herself dying in horrible and painful ways, her head getting torn off, her neck being snapped all the way around, being impaled by the various other tails that surrounded, having her limbs ripped off one at a time._

 _Just as quickly as these images started though, they stopped, but that oppressive pressure remained, threatening to make her heart burst itself out of her chest. "If you so much as mildly annoy me, I will not hesitate to put you in more agony then you could ever imagine before reducing you to a bloody smear on the ground." Once again, the tail around her throat tightened to dangerous levels, causing her to grasp at her throat desperately._

" _If I felt so inclined, I could snap that pretty little neck of yours without so much as a second thought." The tail slacked again just as she was starting to turn blue. "So, you will not move, you will not speak, and you will not irritate me._ _ **Am. I. Clear?"**_

-End Flashback-

"…oh my god," Sora said in horror as she covered her mouth with her hands. Her mind was running a mile a minute as it visualized what the girl next to her described. Mimi herself had completely broken down into sobs as she finished speaking, eyes already bloodshot as she shook violently.

"J-just t-t-thinking abo-about it m-makes me- makes me…" Mimi didn't finish as she suddenly rushed over to the side of the bath and started vomiting. In an instant Palmon was beside her again, stroking the girl's back softly as she emptied out her stomach.

For several minutes, the only sounds to be heard were the distorted voices from the boys' side, retching, and the sickly spattering of puke hitting the floor. Finally, the vomiting died down to dry heaving then stopped all together as Mimi settled back into the bath slowly, wiping off a small bit of bile that had trailed down her chin. Moving slowly closer, Sora gently gripped her shoulder again and asked. "Are you okay?" While externally she kept up the same look of kindness and support internally… ' _Are you okay!? Are you serious, brain!? Can you actually work right for once! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!'_

"Y-yeah actually," Mimi's answer knocked Sora out of her mental reprimand of herself. Now that she was paying attention, she could see that Mimi did look, if only slightly, less tense, not twitching as much while breathing a little easier. "It… it was n-nice to finally get that off my c-chest." She admitted, her voice slightly hoarse from puking, but she was barely stuttering now as she gave Sora a small hug. "Thank you,"

"I really didn't do anything, but I'm glad you're at least feeling somewhat better." Sora said, hugging the girl back, "I think we're clean enough now, how about we finish up here and meet with the others?" Sora had barely even finished speaking when Mimi shot out of the water and wrapped a towel around her waist. "…guess I should have expected as much." Sora said to herself with a sigh. Mimi may be feeling a bit better, but she was clearly nowhere near fully recovered from what happened.

Heading into the changing room herself with Biyomon and Palmon not far behind, the trio agreed amongst themselves not to tell the others about what happened to respect Mimi's privacy. Now dressed up in robes they found, they met up with the boys inside the main room again, with Mimi walking straight to Naruto and scooping him back up into her arms, visible relaxing as she did so. Naruto didn't complain as he was still tired from over using his stronger form, instead he just made himself comfortable in her hold, and started dozing.

"So, how did it go?" Izzy asked quietly while casually walking up to her.

"It went okay… I think." Sora responded, the duo sticking to the back of the group as they looked for somewhere to sleep for the night.

"You think?"

"Trust me, you really, really don't want to know," Her face scrunched up in disgust as even now she couldn't get the imagery her imagination came up with out of her head.

"Noted," Was all Izzy said in return.

Eventually they came across a room full of beds and the group divided up into their respective digimon/human pairs. The only exception to this was Mimi who still held Naruto's sleeping form as she crawled under the blankets with Palmon. "Wow! These beds are absolutely divine!" She said happily as she sank into the soft material.

"I know, the only thing better would be bunk beds!" T.K. cheered as he jumped onto a bed, him and Patamon laughing happily as they bounced.

"Oi, keep it down, Ttebayo. I'm trying to sleep here," Naruto grumbled, raising his head slightly to glare at the noise makers before drifting back to sleep.

"He's got the right idea, I'm exhausted," Joe moaned as he flopped onto his back, "All this walking through burning deserts and starving through jungles has been a real pain."

Surprised when he was met with silence, Joe looked up to see all the other kids sitting on their beds with saddened expressions. It took him a minute to figure out why, and when he did he also grew somber. "We really are a long way from home, aren't we?" No-one answered him as they all were consumed by their thoughts. It was in that silence that they all laid down in their beds, one by one drifting off into uneasy sleep.

-Short Time Later-

"WAKE UP EVERYONE! OGREMON IS HERE!" Tai's voice rang through the air, shocking everyone awake just in time to see the robes they were wearing (in the children's case) and the entire room seemingly shatter like glass before fading into nothing.

"EEEEE!" Mimi and Sora shrieked as they covered themselves with blankets as their underwear was exposed.

"Because together you are strong, I shall use my touch of evil to scatter you throughout the digiworld!" An unknown male voice called as any of them had any chance to react, the beds they were on suddenly started floating and shooting around in the air. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lugs as the beds did hoops, loops, and swirls as they were barely able to catch glimpses of Tai and Agumon facing off against Leomon, Ogremon, and an unknown humanoid digimon with black tattered wings, long arms, and an orange bat symbol across his chest.

Then to all their shock, the island itself suddenly broke apart with a thunderous crack into a dozen or so segments that drifted away, leaving only Infinity Mountain behind. "How is this happening?!" Izzy yelled, only to go unanswered as the beds followed the Islands lead and shot off in random directions across the sea with their screaming passengers.

-End Chapter-

AN: I apologize for the multiple flashbacks and to anyone who thinks the scene with the Kyuubi was too dark. It may seem excessive but remember, Orochimaru could do the exact same thing to **trained** genin, chuunin, and some jounin with mild effort. Now consider the Kyuubi, who is many, many times more powerful, doing the same against an untrained and slightly pampered civilian. If he was even putting a mild amount of actual effort into it, Mimi's heart would have exploded from fear. Now that that is explained, I have an honest question, where the hell were these kids keeping their clothes during all this and how do they still have them later? Thank you for reading and please review.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 11-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Mimi and Palmon screamed at the top of their lungs as they flew over the ocean at high speed on their bed. Naruto would be doing the same, but he A. currently didn't know what was going on as he was trapped under the blanket when Mimi rushed to protect her modesty and B. was trying his damnedest not to faint from embarrassment as he was pressed against said girl's bare skin and underwear from her hugging the blanket, and thus him, tightly to herself in terror.

Finally, their impromptu flight was coming to an end as they descended towards one of the moving sections of File Island, a jungle area. "Hold on!" Palmon yelled as she wrapped all three of them up into a ball with her 'Poison Ivy' as they started crashing through the tree line. Seconds later, they were tossed from the bed as it collided with the ground and sent tumbling several more feet before skidding to a stop.

Once she was sure they were done moving, Palmon slowly unwrapped them, allowing Mimi to flop onto the ground with heavy breaths as she stared at the night sky, sweat pouring off of her. Her exhaustion finally starting to make itself known as the adrenaline in her system ran its course.

As she calmed down enough to catch her breath, Mimi also gradually became more away of her surrounds as the shock wore off as well, eventually noticing the small squirming lump under her blanket as she felt something fleshy and fluffy wriggling against her stomach.

Staring at said lump in confusion, it took nearly a minute for her tired brain to piece together what, or more exactly who, it was. When it did, her entire face turned crimson as she lifted the cloth to reveal an equally blushing Naruto, with a tiny amount of blood trickling down his nose, looking right back at her. "Uhhh, Hi Mimi…"

*Thump*

Mimi's head hit the dirt as the girl fainted, the sudden burst of embarrassment draining her of the last bit of mental strength she had left. Seeing this, Naruto instantly started to panic as he clambered off of her and pulled the blanket back over her. Checking to make sure she was okay, he sighed in relief when he found she was just unconscious before he started taking stock of their situation.

They were in the middle of a jungle, it was still night time, Mimi was out cold and mostly naked, Palmon was not too far away nursing the bruises on her vine-like fingers, and he was still a chibi. Hashing out a quick plan of action mentally, Naruto placed his tiny hands into the ram sign and flared his chakra.

" _ChibiNarutomon digivolve to… Kitsumon!_ Kami I hate that." He grumbled while rubbing his throat, complaining about both the weird speech thing and his 'official' name. Kitsumon was way too similar to Kitsunemon for his taste.

Naruto then crossed his fingers into the familiar sign for his signature technique. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Split up and get firewood and as much food as you can find!" He told the four clones as they puffed into existence getting quick nods in response before they shot into the forest. With that taken care of, Naruto knelt down to where Mimi laid to deal with the more glaring issue.

Straightening the bandages on her arms and adjusting the blanket so that she was still covered but about half of it sat to her side, he then reached out and sliced the section off with his claws. Holding the piece of cloth in one hand, Naruto dug around the inside of his jacket with the other for several seconds before pulling out a small spool of thread with a small, beat up needle sticking out of it.

Sitting down next to the sleeping girl, he threaded the needle and starting sowing into the blanket piece, stopping only to move his tail under Mimi's head for her comfort. These actions didn't go unnoticed by Palmon, her natural healing factor having already fixed up her fingers and was now standing across from Naruto as she watched him work. Neither of them noticed as a faint glow emanated from Mimi's hand before it dissipated, revealing her digivice now resting there.

-Few hours later-

Mimi groaned as sunlight streamed onto her face, forcing her awake. Sitting up with a sigh, she rubbed the crust out of her eyes, not noticing as she dropped the small device in her hand. As her vision cleared up, she felt a large amount of confusion rush through her as she took in her current surroundings.

Feeling chilly, she looked down and shrieked as she found herself in her underwear, her blanket having fallen off as she sat up. Quickly covering herself back up, memories of last night trickled back into her head causing her to blush even brighter. Looking around, her face morphed into a look of surprise as she gazed at the sleeping forms of Naruto and Palmon.

Palmon was leaning against a large pile of fruits, vegetables, and cooked fish, bits of food littered all over her face as her stomach bulged to a ridiculous degree, the remnants of a fire smoking in front of her. Naruto on the other hand was in a sitting position barely three feet away from Mimi, with the source of her surprise laying across his lap. It was a simple white dress, slightly uneven on the straps for the shoulders and on the seam running up the side, but otherwise well-made and very pretty in her opinion.

Seeing the used-up spool and needle by his side, a soft smile crossed Mimi's lips as she put two and two together. Carefully pulling the dress off his lap without waking him up, Mimi quickly slipped the garment on, pleased to find it an almost perfect fit, only needing a few tweaks here and there. Unfortunately, the sweet moment came to an end as the girl felt her anxiety starting to rear its ugly head again.

Shivering despite the warm temperatures, Mimi did her best to repress those feelings of helplessness and fear as she moved over to the pile of food and helped herself. By the time she was finished, Naruto was waking up with a yawn as he popped his back. Blinking groggily, he looked over to her, a big smile crossing his face as he saw what she was wearing, before frowning at the unease he saw written on her face.

"Hey Mimi, how are… *Yaaawn* …you feeling?" He asked with concern, stretching his arms and legs while he stood up.

"I'm okay, just a little shaken up," Mimi half-lied as she turned away from him pretending to look for something else to eat and quickly changed the subject. "Thank you for the dress, how'd you learn to sew?"

Blinking at the question, Naruto shrugged and answered. "Well, I taught myself how, had to so I could patch up my clothes when they got torn up." He explained, picking up the spool and needle and tucking them inside of his coat with a light smile as he remembered all the times he'd used them. He had had those since he was seven years old, when he fished them out of a dumpster behind a clothes store, the same place he'd found his old ninja outfit.

"Really, why not just ask your parents for new ones?" Mimi asked with confusion as she looked back at him.

"Didn't have any to ask." Naruto stated bluntly, causing the girl to cringe.

"Oh… I'm sorry…"

"Eh, don't be, you didn't know."

Still feeling bad, Mimi started to say something, only to get cut off as Naruto suddenly tensed up. Faster than she could blink, he was at her side, roughly pushing her to the ground as a blur shot past where she was standing and collided with Naruto. Stunned from the sudden movement, it took Mimi a minute to regain her wits and get back to her feet, but when she did, her eye's widened in horror at the sight before her.

Naruto laid on the ground, his face contorted in agony with a small amount of blood leaking from his lips as he clutched at his chest…

…or more accurately, at the black gear currently lodged in it.

-End Chapter-

AN: Oh No! Naruto now has a black gear in him, what shall happen now? Find out on the next update of Humon?! Also, I will not be writing all the other characters scenes during this time as they will be mostly canon with only a few slight differences that will be brought up later, the most common being that, like Mimi, they all don't magically have their clothes after landing. Thank you for reading and please review


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy,

Humon?

-Chapter 12-

-Last time-

 _Stunned from the sudden movement, it took Mimi a minute to regain her wits and get back to her feet, but when she did, her eye's widened in horror at the sight before her._

 _Naruto laid on the ground, his face contorted in agony with a small amount of blood leaking from his lips as he clutched at his chest…_

… _or more accurately, at the black gear currently lodged in it._

-And now-

Naruto gasped as he felt an extreme amount of pain shoot through his body for the dozenth or so time that week. Doing his best to ignore it and the blood steadily filling his mouth, he grabbed the black gear sticking out of his chest and tried to pull it out.

*ZZZZZT!* " _Obey..."_ Naruto convulsed as a fresh wave of pain shot through his body, black electricity arcing across his body while a deep booming voice echoed inside of his head. When the shock died down, he re-gripped the gear and tried to pull it out again only to receive the same treatment. " _Obey!"_

During all of this, Mimi just stood above him completely still with a horrified expression. She could do nothing but stare as she saw Naruto get repeatedly shocked while trying to pull out the gear now embedded in him. It wasn't until Naruto released a bloodcurdling scream as the worst shock yet blasted through him that she finally snapped out of her stupor.

Rushing to his side, Mimi grabbed the gear and started pulling, wincing as Naruto's screaming increased as even more electricity sparked off of him. Unfortunately, she only managed to pull it about an inch out before her strength started waning and it began to sink back in. Luckily for her though, familiar green and purple vines sprung out from behind her and wrapped themselves on to the gear.

"Don't worry Naruto, we got you!" Palmon said as she walked up to Mimi's side. "On three!" The plant digimon said, getting a nod from the girl as she tightened her grip. "One… Two… Three!" Pulling with all their might, Mimi and Palmon finally started to slowly pull the horrid hunk of metal out inch by inch.

Just as the last of it was pulled free, the gear suddenly shattered to pieces making the both of them fall backwards from the sudden lack of resistance. Scrambling back to their feet, Mimi got back to Naruto's side only for her face to rapidly turn green as she saw the surprisingly shallow but no less bloody gash situated where the gear was. The skin around it had been turned a sickly greyish color, with the actual wound being almost pitch black with bits of red mixed in.

"Ugh, that hurt…. Uhhh… that really fucking hurt…" Naruto groaned as he tried to sit up only to collapse after only a few seconds. "…Ow… okay, so no moving, great… guess I'm just going to lay for little bit... yeah, maybe take a little… nap."

"NO! Naruto, don't go to sleep!" Mimi yelled, slapping his cheek a few times, startling him back to alertness.

"Huh… wha? Oh, right, bleeding out… Palmon… get something for bandages." Naruto said getting the plant digimon to nod as she ran off. "Mimi… I know you're not going to like this… but I need you to push down on my chest."

"What!?" Mimi shrieked, backing away slightly as she felt ready to puke at the thought of it.

"The bleeding needs to be stopped… before the bandages can be place… now hurry up… I don't know how.. much… lon…" Naruto didn't finish, his head falling back to the ground as his body went completely limp.

"Naruto? Naruto!" Mimi tried to slap him awake again, but this time with no success. Panicking, she checked his breathing, relaxing slightly when he still was. Looking back at his chest, she swallowed down the bile building up in her throat and slowly placed her shaking hands onto the wound and pushed down, her face turning almost entirely green as she felt some of the torn flesh squishing between her fingers and the warm blood coated her hands.

"Here, will this work?" Palmon asked after what felt like an eternity, in reality only a minute or two, as she ran back to them with the discarded blanket, not even having time to blink as Mimi snatched the blanket from her. Pulling up Naruto's shirt, Mimi quickly wrapped the cloth tightly around his waist. The whole thing was sloppily done, but it would have to do for the time being.

As soon as she finished, Mimi scrambled away several feet and finally threw up. Even when her stomach was completely empty, she continued to dry heave painfully, forcing tears out of her eyes as she stared at her bloodied hands with horror. Palmon stood right beside her, gently rubbing the poor girls back as her heaving slowly stopped.

"W-w-we should g-get moving, it's n-n-not s-safe here," Mimi said in a trembling voice as she slowly stood up and walked back to Naruto, only to stop with a yelp as she felt something dig into her foot. Looking to see what, she found the odd device that had brought her to this world in the first place.

Picking it up, she wanted nothing more than to chuck it as far away from herself as possible. Instead, she reluctantly clipped it to the front of her dress as she had a feeling it would be important, and continued over to Naruto. ' _Sorry Naruto,'_ She thought as she knelt next to his feet and removed his shoes. They were a few sizes too big for her, but she still put them on and tied them as tightly as she could.

After that she and Palmon hefted Naruto into a standing position and leaned him on Mimi with an arm draped over her shoulders and they left the area. Palmon did her best to help, using her vines to carry some of the weight, but given their height difference it was taxing and quickly left her tired out after only a few minutes. Mimi grunted from exertion as she slowly walked forwards, sweat dripping down her forehead as she carried Naruto's full weight and trying to repress her growing anxiety attack.

' _I hope we find the others soon,'_ She thought with a wince as her back was already starting to ache. *Splat* Mimi was brought out of her thoughts as a familiar foul smelling purple goop fell to the ground in front of her. Looking up for the source, she greeted with the sight of what looked like a giant pile of golden shit with big goofy eyes and a mouth that went all the way around it's body. Long, skinny arms stuck out the sides of the top half and a small purple mouse with a blood shot eye clung to it's head.

"Duh! Goodbye! Meet to nice ya!"

"He means Hello! Nice to meet cha!" The poop being said before the mouse corrected him.

"Ugh, Palmon who are they?" Mimi asked as her nose crinkled up from the horrible smell of the crap on the ground.

"That's Sukamon and Chumon, also known as the digi-losers." Palmon said in an annoyed tone with a disgusted face, with the odd duo actually thanking her for the rude introduction for some reason. "Those two always together because they share the same teeny tiny brain."

As soon as Palmon finished talking Sukamon reached into his own mouth and pulled out more 'digi-sludge' and began hurling it at them with a demented laughter. "EWWWW!" Mimi and Palmon screamed as they barely managed to get out of the way of the barrage of crap without getting hit. "Hey! What's the big idea buddy!" Mimi demanded, veins bulging on her forehead as her last nerve was quickly being eroded away.

"That's what you get for going through our jungle without paying a whats-you-call-it!"

"A toll! You didn't pay a toll!"

"Yeah, that!" Sukamon told them, with Chumon correcting him again.

"A toll? …Fine, what do you want?" Mimi asked with an irritated expression, knowing she didn't have any choice but to comply as it would be impossible for her to run away while carrying Naruto.

"Duh… how about that shiny thing," Sukamon said as he pointed to the unknown device strapped to Mimi's dress.

"Yeah, it looks valuable! So hand it over!" Chumon demanded as Sukamon slid down the tree with an outstretched hand.

Reaching up and unclipping the said item from her dress, Mimi only took a second to look at it in her bloodied hand before handing it over. "Here! Take it and leave us alo-AH!" The girl was cut off as soon as the device came in contact with the digimon's hand, the two mischief makers started glowing brightly.

"Whooaa blublbublu!" "This is better than chewing on tin-foil!" Sukamon and Chumon yelled respectively before the light died down and they fell to the ground with a crash and just laid there while twitching randomly. Just as Mimi and Palmon wised up enough to try and sneak away, Sukamon sprang back up with a cheer.

"Whoa-ho-ho! I feel all tingly and refreshed inside! Like a whole new digimon!"

"Yeah! Whole new digimon!" The duo shouted out while dancing on the spot happily.

"…Uh, okay then…" Mimi said awkwardly as she reclipped the item back to her dress and backed up slightly. "…would you happen to be willing to help us out then?" She asked cautiously, following a gut feeling she had.

Looking up at her, Sukamon suddenly started acting bashful, blushing slightly as he fiddled with his hands. "Dah, yeah, sure, anything for a pretty girl like you." He said with a smile, or at least Mimi thought he was smiling.

"Have you seen any other humans around here?" Palmon asked, before sighing as she only got confused looks from the two digimon. "Any creatures like this one?" She asked again while gesturing to Mimi.

"Duh, Ummmm…."

"Actually, now that you mention it," Chumon mumbled, getting Sukamon to perk up

"Oh yeah, duh I almost forgot!" He exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. "We saw a weird thing like you fall outa the sky into the old ruins with a Tentomon! ...was nowhere as pretty as you though," He said, murmuring the last part with another blush.

' _That must have been Izzy!'_ Mimi thought happily, "Can you show us?"

"Duh, uh sure, right this way!" Sukamon said as he turned around and started hopping through the forest surprisingly fast with Mimi and Palmon following as quickly as they could while carrying Naruto.

Several minutes of following the golden poop digimon, a panting Palmon and Mimi found themselves at the edge of a cliff that lead into the ocean. Sukamon was excitedly pointing to another island segment that was drifting next to theirs a dozen yards or so away. "Duh, that's where they landed they did!" He said.

"Greeeeat… now how the heck are we supposed to get over there?" Mimi asked with a dull tone.

"I dunno, but I'm sure you can figure it out by yourself." Chumon said with a shrug, "I mean, a girl as pretty as you gotta have a big brain."

"...thanks," Said girl deadpanned, mentally asking herself why she was expecting actual help.

"Don't worry Mimi, I can get us across, but I'll have to do it one at a time." Palmon told her, slightly extending her fingers to prove her point.

"Then take Naruto first, I can wait." Mimi said, getting a nod in response as the plant digimon wrapped Naruto up in one hand and grabbed onto the opposite shore with the other. "Be right back!" Palmon shouted as she shot across the gap with the blonde in tow.

Left alone with the two goofy digimon, Mimi stood almost entirely still as she was trying, and failing, to distract herself form the building terror that was still building inside of her. She tried thinking of fashion, cute boys, heck even of school, but no matter what she tried the memories of her encounter with Kitsunemon would force themselves into the front of her thoughts.

A shiver ran down her spine as she subconsciously reached up to her bruised neck, feeling phantom sensations of the tail constricting itself around it as she started to breathe heavily. So deep into her thoughts, she didn't even notice Sukamon trying to convince her to give him a kiss.

It wasn't until she felt something wrapping itself around her waist and shake her slightly that Mimi finally snapped back to reality to find Palmon to be the one shaking her with a concerned expression. Mimi simply responded with a weak smile that wasn't convincing anyone, before she wrapped her arms around Palmon as the plant digimon once again latched onto the other side and pulled them across.

Upon reaching the other side, they gave a short wave goodbye to the two proud digi-losers, carefully hoisted Naruto back up, and headed into the new forest with caution. It took several minutes of searching, but they eventually found the ruins that Sukamon had mentioned. They were embedded inside a cliff, carved from a slightly lighter stone than the surrounding rock, with over a dozen large entrances that led inside.

Peering into a couple, Mimi felt a surge of relief wash through her as she finally spotted the computer genius and bug digimon. Izzy was sitting on the ground, a bit scraped up but otherwise okay, dressed in his regular clothes minus shoes, typing away at his computer (that he somehow plugged into a root) while occasionally glancing at the wall in front of him or at a black gear that was sticking out of the ground, slowly turning. Tentomon floating lazily beside him with a dull buzzing. "Izzy!" Mimi yelled, startling the two as she and Palmon walked in with Naruto.

"Huh, Mimi is tha- Oh my god! Are you okay?!" Izzy had started to ask after he calmed down, only to freak again as he turned to see Mimi, even dropping his computer from shock. Not that surprising though, since her hands were covered in blood and she was carrying an unconscious Naruto who had a bloody hole in his shirt.

"I'm fine… but Naruto's… he's hurt… badly," Mimi told him between breaths as she gently set the blonde down against the nearest wall with Palmon's help. Scrambling to his feet, Izzy hurried over and started to check over the two of them.

Seeing the sloppy mess of bandaging on Naruto chest, Izzy quickly unbound and redid it, gagging as he saw the now half-closed but still nasty gash. "What, *gulp*…what happened?" He asked while holding down the bile that was building up in his throat.

Mimi didn't answer verbally as she was catching her breath still, instead she pointed to the black gear sticking out of the ground with a shiver, making sure to stay as far away from it as possible. Nodding in understanding, Izzy went back to his computer and pulled out a familiar cord. Jabbing it into Naruto's hand, he immediately started typing as readouts started popping up on the screen.

"What are you doing now Izzy?" Tentomon asked, once again buzzing curiously by the boy's head.

"I'm checking Naruto's vitals by scanning his digital makeup. Checking to see if he'll be okay." He said, automatically simplifying himself as he spoke. Almost like on cue, a model of Naruto popped onto the screen. Most of the model was highlighted green, with a few tiny sections of yellow here and there, and a big glaring red spot over his chest with yellow edging.

Typing in a few commands, Izzy remained completely silent as he read over the results. Mimi, Palmon, and Tentomon tried to read over his shoulder but couldn't make heads or tails over the various techno babble that flickered over the screen. It seemed to make perfect sense to Izzy though, as after a few minutes he relaxed with a sighed in relief.

"He should be fine, according to this his healing factor has already taken care of most of the damage. He just needs to rest for a while… and so do you." He stated, glancing at the still heavily breathing girl as he pulled out the cord and went back to where he was.

"No arguments here," Mimi said as she sat down next to Naruto with a tired groan, having aches in places she didn't know she had till today. As she sat there, her vision started blurring from exhaustion and before Mimi knew it she was out like a light, her head dropping onto Naruto's shoulder with a muffled thump.

Izzy glanced at the sleeping girl, a small smile crossing his lips at her current position before focusing back on trying to translate the glyphs on the walls.

-Timeskip-

"Mimi! Mimi wake up!" Mimi jerked awake as she was shaken and someone yelled into her ear. Looking around blearily, she made out Izzy's short form as the one who was shaking her.

"Huh, wha… Izzy?" She asked groggily.

"Mimi, get up! Something's coming and it's coming fast!" Izzy yelled, shocking the girl fully awake as she was pulled to her feet by him and Palmon while Tentomon buzzed around in a panic. Before she could even say anything, the wall closest to them suddenly exploded, showering them in dust and chunks of stone.

Coughing loudly as the dust settled, the four of them were greeted with the sight of a centaur digimon, with bright orange fur, purple muscular bulges covering the majority of it's body, black metallic hands with a shackle hanging from one, and a single pauldron on its shoulder. Pipe like vents stuck out from its back, puffing out a small bit of steam, and it wore a knight helmet with a blade sticking out the top and a T shaped hole where the face would be, revealing nothing but blackness and a single blood red eye.

"Ah, Tentomon, it's been so long!" It said in a deep voice as it walked jumped through the hole it made.

"Oh no! It's Centarumon! And he has a black gear in him!" Tentomon cried as he pointed to the said gear seen sticking out of the now named Centarumon's lower back.

"It's too cramped in here for the digimon to digivolve! We have to get outside!" Izzy said as he and Mimi grabbed Naruto and the four made a break for the exit.

"I think not!" Centarumon bellowed as he held up one of his arms, facing the palm towards them as thin metal strips extended from it. "Solar Ray!" A sphere of bright yellow energy formed and shot at them at high speed, barely missing the group when they dove to the ground and blasting apart another wall.

Momentarily blinded from the second burst of dust and smoke, Centarumon only just caught sight of his targets as they got outside. "You cowards shall fall before my might! Solar Ray!" Firing another round half blind, and this time the group wasn't as lucky.

"Agh!"

"Palmon!/Tentomon!" Mimi and Izzy screamed as the blast landed right between the two digimon and sent both tumbling away several feet.

"I'm good, just a little dazed!" Tentomon called back as he got up shakily, Palmon nodding as she wobbled around dizzily before falling flat on her face.

"Y-yeah, t-totally fine!"

" _Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

" _Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!"_

"Come and get it big boy! Needle Spray!"

"Electro Shocker!"

The two much larger digimon yelled as they launched their respective attacks simultaneously. Unfortunately for them though, do to their still slightly disoriented states the attack missed by a few inches and left them wide open, something that Centarumon quickly took advantage of.

"Such weak will! Solar Ray!" He mocked before blasting the two champions away before they could react. Stunned from the failed attack, Mimi and Izzy were unprepared as another attack hit the ground right in front of them and blasted them off their feet.

Izzy was the first to recover as he sat up with a groan, only to freeze as he came face to face with Centarumon's arm cannon. "Any last words?" The centaur digimon asked in a cruel tone as he yellow energy started building. Izzy just remained silent his life flashing before, silently praying for a miracle as he stared at his impending doom.

"Diamond Storm!" Several glowing white crystals suddenly embedded themselves into Centarumon's back, making him scream out in pain. His screaming increased as the black gear lodged into his back sprang free and disintegrated, before the half man half horse digimon collapsed to the ground with a groan.

Blinking in shock at the sudden save, Izzy slowly turned his head towards the source of the crystals to see Naruto weakly sitting up with Mimi's help, his arm extended in the digimon's direction before it fell to the ground with a thud.

"Can't even close my eyes for five damn minutes around here without something going wrong, can I?"

-End Chapter-

AN: Extra long chapter and another early update to make up for the short one before. For those who are confused about what happened with the black gear, I'm following the theory that they essentially 'interfaces' with the digimon the imbed themselves into, hence why they seem to pass right through the digimon without actually injuring them. Following this logic, then it wouldn't work right on Naruto since he is still half organic, thus leading to Naruto getting badly injured when it tried to 'interface' with him.

Also, yes Naruto just learned how to do Renamon's signature attack, and yes I know Renamon's attack is actually just launching glowing sharpened leaves and called fox leaf arrowheads in the original version, but seriously… sharpened leaves? Yeah, I'm sticking with crystals. Finally, I will be going on a vacation soon, so there may be a sudden increase or decrease on updates based on how it goes. Thank you for Reading and Please Review.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon series. Comments/Criticism are fine as long as they aren't hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 13-

-Last time-

 _Izzy was the first to recover as he sat up with a groan, only to freeze as he came face to face with Centarumon's arm cannon. "Any last words?" The centaur digimon asked in a cruel tone as he yellow energy started building. Izzy just remained silent his life flashing before, silently praying for a miracle as he stared at his impending doom._

 _"Diamond Storm!" Several glowing white crystals suddenly embedded themselves into Centarumon's back, making him scream out in pain. His screaming increased as the black gear lodged into his back sprang free and disintegrated, before the half man half horse digimon collapsed to the ground with a groan._

 _Blinking in shock at the sudden save, Izzy slowly turned his head towards the source of the crystals to see Naruto weakly sitting up with Mimi's help, his arm extended in the digimon's direction before it fell to the ground with a thud._

 _"Can't even close my eyes for five damn minutes around here without something going wrong, can I?"_

-And now-

Naruto groaned lightly as Mimi helped him onto his feet and over to Izzy who still lay on the ground in shock. "You alright there Izzy?" The injured blonde asked, getting Izzy to snap out of his daze. Scrambling up to his feet, and a fair distance away from the unconscious centaur digimon, Izzy struggled to calm his rapidly beating heart as he took several deep breaths.

"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine, p-physically at least." Izzy stuttered out as he shakily dusted himself off.

"Good, cause I pretty sure I'm about to…" Naruto glowed brightly and shrunk down to his chibi form, much to Mimi's relief. "…shrink." He finished as Mimi scooped him up into her arms and rewrapped the now loose bandages. "By the way, where's Tentomon and Palmon?" Naruto asked.

"Over here, ow," Palmon called out from a small crater as she and Tentomon limped over, covered in small burns and bruises. "Ouch! I'm pretty sure my bruises have bruises though." The plant digimon grumbled as she gently rubbed a particularly nasty bruise on her leafy arm.

"Ugh, what… what happened?" Everyone jumped at Centarumon's voice as said digimon slowly got to his feet while holding his head. "What am I doing out here?" He asked, looking around in confusion.

"Please tell me you're a good digimon now," Mimi begged, she really didn't feel like going through even more life and death situations today, two was enough for her thank you very much.

"Wha…" Centarumon groggily looked towards them, "What are you talking…" He trailed off as his eye centered on the small blue item clipped to Mimi's dress. "That device! Where did you get that?!" He demanded suddenly as he quickly rose to his feet, causing them to back away just as fast.

"This thing," Mimi said disdainfully as she grasped the thing with her still blood covered hand. "Fell out of the sky while we were at summer camp." ' _and been nothing but trouble ever since.'_ She finished mentally.

"You know what they are?" Izzy asked getting a nod.

"Yes I have seen it before,"

-Que Convenient Transition-

The group was now back inside the ruins, standing inside a large open room before an alter like stone platform. On the far wall was a carving shaped just like the front of the devices Izzy and Mimi were currently holding. "Well, that is certainly familiar." Izzy stated.

"It is the mystical symbol of the digivice, these ruins are their temple and I am their guardian." Centarumon explained, "They are the preservers of the light and the last line of defense against the darkness that threatens existence."

"More like destroyer of my peace of mind," Mimi grumbled softly, drawing concerned looks from Naruto, Palmon, and Izzy. Naruto was just about to ask her what was bothering her, when a loud growling cut him off.

Turning to the source, the kids, their digimon, and Naruto tensed at the sight of Leomon standing in front of the only way in or out of the room with a blank faced snarl. "Leomon? What are you doing here?" Centarumon asked, looking between the tensed children and the humanoid lion with confusion.

"Must destroy the children." Leomon said emotionlessly, drawing his sword in a reverse grip and slowly marching forward.

"What insanity are you speaking of Leomon? These children are the possessors of the digivices." Centarumon demanded, moving in between the group and Leomon as the lion digimon quickly closed the distance between them.

"I must destroy the children, and you will not stop me. Fist of the Beast King!" Punching the air, a transparent orange lion head flew from Leomon's fist and straight at the centaur digimon who quickly dodged.

"Solar Ray!" Centarumon retaliated by blasting Leomon in the chest point blank, sending him skidding back several feet. "Now how about we stop this craziness before one of us gets serio-" "Fist of the Beast King!"

Centarumon was cut off when Leomon moved twice as fast as he normally could and slammed a glowing fist into the stunned digimon before he could react. The centaur digimon was sent flying into the wall, sinking several inches into the hard stone before falling to the ground with a groan, out like a light.

"Destroy the children… destroy the children…" Leomon chanted as he steadily approached the trapped children.

' _This is bad, this is very bad… Tentomon and Palmon are too tired to digivolve and Naruto's in no condition to fight.'_ Izzy thought in dread as they slowly backed away, bumping into the wall after just a few steps.

' _OW! Shit! OW! Shit! OW! SHIT!'_ Naruto thought as he tried to force himself to digivolve, only to end up cringing as intense pain flashed through his chest.

' _Oh god, please somebody help us!'_ Mimi prayed as she held Naruto tightly to her chest, her whole body trembling violently in terror. "Why won't you just leave us alone?!" Mimi demanded, the only response she got being Leomon speeding up his little mantra as he got steadily closer. Acting desperately, Mimi grabbed the closest thing she could, that being the digivice on her dress, and lobbed it straight at Leomon's head with all of her strength.

"Must destroy the- GRAH!" Leomon was about to repeat his usual phrase when the digivice struck his chest and started giving off an intense light, making the lion digimon violently recoil.

"Whoa! It stopped him in his tracks!" Izzy yelled in surprise and relief, acting fast and quickly pointed his own digivice at Leomon as it too gave off an intense light.

"GAAAH!" Lemon howled in agony as the combined lights shined on him. Attempting to keep approaching, he recoiled as the lights got more intense, before he eventually turned tail and ran away.

"That… was surprisingly easy," Naruto said as Mimi retrieved her digivice. Based on his past history of all things battle related, Mizuki, Wave mission, Chunnin Exams, Sasuke's retrieval mission, and every fight since he'd got here, he honestly expected that to end a whole lot worse than this. Man, now that he thought about it, his luck really sucked when it came to fights.

"Yeah, well let's just be grateful for small favors." Izzy said, falling to the floor with a sigh as the adrenaline wore off.

"Amen to that," Mimi agreed as she plopped down next to him. A few minutes later, Centarumon woke up and lead them back to the entrance. When they got there, Izzy went straight to where his laptop was sitting and got back to work trying to translate what the ruins said.

Normally, Mimi would have told him off for wasting time when they should be trying to find the others, but right now all she wanted to do was close her eyes and get some more sleep. But before she did that, there was one last thing that was bothering her.

Walking over to where the black gear was sticking out of the ground, Mimi glared at the infernal hunk of dark metal as she pointed her digivice at it. With a flare of light, the gear was shattered into pieces and everyone was almost knocked off their feet as the ground suddenly shook.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked, not getting an answer as everyone focused on the broken gear as it started sparking rapidly. Before their eyes the broken sections seemed to meld back together perfectly with a final crackle of electricity before the gear started spinning again, only this time in the opposite direction. At the same time, the island shook again, this time managing to knock everybody but Centarumon off of their feet.

"Afm thfj? (and that?)" Naruto's muffled voice said from underneath Mimi.

-Old Batman Transition with Chibinarutomon's face-

"The island has completely reversed it's momentum," Izzy said with astonishment as he, Mimi with Naruto in her arms still, Palmon, and Tentomon stood at the edge of the island, watching the other island continue pass by them. Centarumon wasn't with them as he had to continue guarding the ruins. "It must be because you smashed that black gear," He mused.

"I honestly don't care about that," Mimi said, rubbing one of her slightly bagged eyes tiredly. "I just want to get some uninterrupted sleep already. I'm kind of jealous of Naruto right now." She admitted, looking down at the mini blonde in her arms as he snoozed away, purring happily as she gently scratched behind his ears.

"Ugh, your about to be even more jealous of him in about five seconds," Palmon groaned as she palmed her face. Mimi was confused at what she meant, for exactly five seconds till a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Duh, I knew you'd be back! Now are you ready to take me on that date now!" Sukamon yelled from the other island, Chumon flailing around from his gold poop looking friend hopping along at full speed just to keep up with the moving island.

A sweatdrop running down the side of her head, Mimi slowly backed away from the edge with a nervous expression, before swiftly hiding behind a nearby tree, leaving only her head poking out. "Palmon, what is the perverted poop guy talking about?" She asked.

"He asked you out like a dozen times while you were zoning out, I guess he took your complete silence as a yes." Palmon said, also sweatdropping at the sight.

Sukamon continued to chase after them or about five minutes or so before he finally reached the end of the island and was slowly shrinking into the distance. "Duh, oh come on sweetie! I know your there! At least blow me a kiss before you go!" He called out in one last attempt.

"Ugh fine, here you go!" Mimi yelled back as she and Palmon gave the digimon an eyelid pull taunt. "Nyaaaaah!"

"Ah come on! Do it like you mean it..." His voice faded out as they got out of hearing range.

"Now that that's over with, time to sleep." Mimi stated as she walked over to the closest patch of soft ground, plopped herself down, and almost instantly drifted off into slumber. Izzy didn't bother to argue, as it was getting dark again already and he was rather tired. Instead of going straight to sleep himself though, he helped Palmon and Tentomon collect palm fronds to make some makeshift beds and blankets first. When they finished, they carefully moved Mimi onto one without waking her or Naruto up, then finally settled in for the night themselves.

-End Chap- WAIT! almost forgot-

-Hilltop-

"Well, that was entertaining," Kitsunemon said in an amused tone, lowering a pair of binoculars from his eyes, leaning back into a fancy looking hammock while sipping from a fruity coconut drink.

"Ah, now this is the life. No annoying ningen around to seal me again, great entertainment, and by the Juubi have I been missing out having actual taste buds." He took another long draught from his drink to emphasize that last part. "I'm actually almost grateful towards that annoying brat, almost."

Indeed if it wasn't for his previous jailer, he would not be enjoying any of these delightful little privileges he now had. That was of the only reasons he hadn't just outright murdered the little bastard yet, plus as he said before that brat and his little friends made for some great entertainment to pass the time. ' _Especially that little drama with one of those odd disks that morning, oh the horrified look on that useless girl I'd intentionally traumatized was quite delightful._ '

Just made him feel all tingly inside that did.

He was taken from his little mental ramble when he realized his drink was empty. "Hmmm, need to find myself a good servant soon," He mumbled to himself as he glanced back down to the now sleeping group, then down to his empty drink, and finally to the pile of empty coconuts and fruit peels with a frown. "Oh well, I doubt I'll miss anything important in the next five minutes anyway." With that he lazily got up from his spot and wandered off to go get some more snacks.

Didn't wanna end up getting the munchies while in the middle of watching his favorite new show after all.

-Now End Chapter-

AN: I apologize again for not updating Interloper of Time yet, but I've been having a bit (read: A lot) of trouble remembering how I wrote the chapter exactly, and what I do rewrite I'm just not satisfied with. I will try to get it back on schedule by this weekend but until then hope you enjoyed this early chapter of Humon? instead. Thank you for reading and please review.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 14-

-Last Time-

 _"Now that that's over with, time to sleep." Mimi stated as she walked over to the closest patch of soft ground, plopped herself down, and almost instantly drifted off into slumber. Izzy didn't bother to argue, as it was getting dark again already and he was rather tired. Instead of going straight to sleep himself though, he helped Palmon and Tentomon collect palm fronds to make some makeshift beds and blankets first. When they finished, they carefully moved Mimi onto one without waking her or Naruto up, then finally settled in for the night themselves._

…

 _"Well, that was entertaining," Kitsunemon said in an amused tone, lowering a pair of binoculars from his eyes, leaning back into a fancy looking hammock while sipping from a fruity coconut drink._

-And Now-

The sun slowly rose into the sky, it's warm rays of light piercing through the sky as they traveled to the ground and onto the faces of our sleeping protagonists. Palmon, being a plant based entity, was naturally the first to rise as she felt the vitalizing rays be soaked into her skin. Yawning, she rubbed the remaining vestiges of sleep from her eyes as she pushed off the giant leaf she was using as a blanket.

Standing up, Palmon stumbled over to a small pile of food she and the others had collected before going to sleep last night. Stuffing down several mouthfuls of tasty red berries in a very unladylike fashion, the plant digimon sighed in satisfaction as she patted her belly.

"Well, time to wake up the others," She said to herself aloud as she spun around and headed towards where Mimi was sleeping. As soon as she got close though, Palmon froze, a shocked look spread across her face… before it quickly turned into a huge smile. "Oh my Sovereigns! That is just so adorable!" She gushed at the sight before her.

Sometime during the night, Naruto had digivolved back into his Kitsumon form while still snuggled up to Mimi. Her arms were still wrapped around his chest and arms holding him tightly to her chest, but now his tail had entwined itself around one of her legs. They were laying face to face, and looked like they were about to kiss as their lips were barely an inch apart from each other.

Not wanting to disturb such a 'romantic' moment between the sleeping duo, Palmon left them alone and woke up Izzy and Tentomon instead, making sure to have them stay quiet as she did so. "Uh, why do we have to whisper Palmon? Is there an enemy digimon nearby?" Izzy asked, rapidly becoming alert while glancing side to side, Tentomon floating at his side doing the same.

*Giggle* "Nope, just don't want to disturb the love birds," Palmon said with a smile, pointing to the still snuggling duo. Taking one look at them, Izzy quickly pulled his camera out of his computer bag, glad that he finally got the stupid thing working yesterday, and snapped several pictures.

"Normally I would be completely neutral about this, but even I have to admit that is photo worthy." The computer whizz said as he scrolled through the pictures he took before nodding in satisfaction and putting the camera away.

"We should wake them up now though, it's time to get moving on." Tentomon said, getting a reluctant nod from the plant digimon.

"Yeah, your right, I'll do i-AHh!" *Thump* Palmon had started to say, only to trip over a small root and crash face first into the ground while one of her leafy arms bumped into Mimi's head, causing it to scooch forwards.

"Hehe oops, guess I should have… watched…my…" The plant digimon had once again started to talk as she stood up and dusted herself off, only to trail off as her gaze settled back on Mimi and Naruto. "…oops…"

Mimi's mind slowly started to kick into gear as the sun's rays struck her face with a gentle warmth. With her eyes still closed, the pink loving girl's sleep addled brain sluggishly processed an odd feeling of something warm and soft pressed against her lips. Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her eyes slowly flickered open, her vision slightly blurry.

Blinking a few times to clear it up, Mimi froze up as she finally managed to make out Naruto's sleeping face right in front of her. Suddenly having a very good idea what that soft feeling was, she felt her gaze drift downwards against her will until the lower half of her face came into sight.

' _OH… MY… GOD!'_ Mimi mentally screamed as her face glowed crimson, nearly fainting. The soft and warm feeling was Naruto's lips, ever so gently pressing onto her own, every breath he took sucking the air out of her mouth then blowing it back in.

After a minute of eternity, she finally regained her wits enough to break the kiss and scramble backwards until she pumped into a tree. Mimi held a hand over her chest, her heart pounding so hard it was almost like it was trying to burst out of her chest. Looking around rapidly, her face, by some miracle, turned even redder as she saw Izzy, Tentomon, and Palmon all standing nearby looking at her with flabbergasted faces.

"I… he… we… It's not what it looks like!" She barely managed to sputter out while waving her arms frantically. Unfortunately for her, all that yelling caused Naruto to stir, his head slowly rising from the makeshift bed with a tired grunt.

"Wha's happing, sumtheng wong?" He asked with a heavy slur as he looked around blearily.

"NO! No! Nothing is wrong! Totally fine! Everything is totally fine!" Mimi shrieked out, waving her hands even more wildly as Naruto looked right at her with a befuddled expression. Slowly standing up and rubbing one of his eyes idly, Naruto meandered over to where Mimi was sitting.

"Are you sure? You look like you have a fever," He said much more clearly while casually pressing his forehead against the blushing girl's one. Mimi looked about ready to faint as she was forced to look the blonde right in his sleepy eyes for several seconds, before sighing in relief when he finally backed off. "Huh, no fever, guess you really are okay then."

"Yes, just like I said, completely fine!" Mimi said with a nervous smile, making Naruto tilt his head in confusion before shrugging it off and stumbling over to the pile of food was and digging in. Mimi meanwhile took several more deep breaths before finally getting her heart rate back under control.

After another minute or so of relaxing breaths, she got up on her slightly unsteady legs and also started helping herself to some of the food while failing to fight down a small blush from being so close to Naruto right after… that! Izzy and Tentomon joined them shortly after that and soon all the food was devoured.

The group then went back to the edge of the island, watching as they got closer and closer to the tall mass of land that was Infinity Mountain. "Judging by the height of the waves, the length of the shadows, and the amount of rapid erosion taken place, we should reach our destination in roughly three hours and eleven minutes." Izzy stated as he typed away at his laptop, which just like his camera he'd managed to get working properly without having to plug it in.

"I'm… not gonna even try to pretend I know how you got that answer but okay then. Anyone up for I Spy?" Naruto suggested as he sat down.

-Three hours later-

"I spy with my little eye… something gree-"

"It's a tree," Naruto and Mimi cut Palmon off at the same time in a dull tone as they sat at the edge of the island. After sitting around doing nothing for the last few hours, the duo were quite effectively bored out of their minds.

"Wha? How'd you guess so fast?" Palmon asked in a shocked tone as she almost fell over from her spot.

"Most likely cause it's the same thing you've chosen every single time it's been your turn." Izzy stated as he typed away at his computer with Tentomon peering over his shoulder like usual, making Palmon wilt a little in embarrassment.

Mimi sighed as she idly kicked her legs while snuggling Naruto's tail, covered in small amounts of dust and a few new scratches and scrapes. The slightest of blushes still adorned across her cheeks which would get rapidly deeper whenever she looked at Naruto as that mornings incident replayed through her mind. What made it worse was she couldn't simply put some distance between them until she cooled off. She had tried to earlier and… it didn't end well.

-Two hours, forty five minutes earlier-

"I spy with my little eye… something pretty," Naruto said as he casually looked around the cliffside before turning towards Mimi. The brunette felt her cheeks light up again, the traitorous part of her mind quickly drawing up a fantasy that it was her he was talking about. Shaking her head slightly to get the thoughts out of her head, unsuccessfully, she pointed to a collection of trees with blooming yellow flowers without saying a word.

"Nope, but you're close Mimi-chan!" Naruto said with a shake of his head and a big smile as he shifted his gaze to Palmon, missing as Mimi's face went nuclear.

"I-I need to go, uh…" Mimi fumbled with her words as she looked away. Trying to think of a reason to leave before Naruto noticed her blush again when she noticed her hands, her still blood encrusted hands. "…go wash my hands! Their still all yucky and ewwy! Bye!"

Naruto and Palmon barely had time to blink before Mimi whisk away into the jungle and out of sight. "Huh, guess she really wanted to wash her hands," Naruto said as he and Palmon stared in the direction she vanished into. "And no Palmon, it isn't the rocks over there."

"Drat,"

Mimi sighed deeply as she stopped after putting a good distance between herself and the others. Conveniently, she'd just happen to have reached a small bubbling brook and knelt down to actually wash her hands.

Cringing slightly as she gingerly dipped her hands into the cold flowing liquid, the girl did her best to scrub off the dried blood.

" _ **I could snap that pretty little neck of yours without so much as a second thought.**_ _"_

"AAAH!" Mimi shrieked and fell back, looking all around herself in terror as she heard that terrifying voice again. Scrambling backwards until she hit a tree, her eyes darted all over the place as she tried to find the source of the voice, only to freeze up entirely as she felt something coarse but fluffy slowly wrap itself around her neck.

" _ **I will not hesitate to put you in more agony then you could ever imagine.**_ "

Mimi's hands shot up to her throat, ready to fight just for the right to breathe, only to end up clasping at nothing but her exposed and still bruised throat with a wince. Mimi didn't even have time to ponder this though, as she felt a hot breath hit the side of her face as something metallic brushed against her ear and whispered.

" _ **Am. I. Clear?**_ "

To terrified to scream, Mimi just shot from the tree like a bullet and started to run only to end up tripping due to wearing Naruto's shoes still and crashing to the ground. Gasping in fear, she looked back expecting to see that horrible digimon again, only to be once again greeted with nothing. Unable to take it anymore, the poor girl finally broke down into tears as she curled into a ball.

-Present-

Thankfully for her, Izzy had gone looking for after about five minutes and had immediately brought her shivering form back to the others where she had immediately latched onto Naruto's tail. While not as effective as holding Naruto in his in-training form, it helped to calm her down enough to function normally again. Meanwhile, the computer genius quelled Naruto's worry by lying about her being frightened by a large spider digimon that had passed by while she was washing.

Sadly enough, it was her own shame at being so terrified just by being alone that helped stop the majority of the embarrassment she felt by being near Naruto.

"Finally! We're here!" Mimi was broken out of her thoughts by Naruto's exclamation. Looking up, she and the others were greeted by the sight of Infinity Mountain getting ever closer. The only problem was that another mass of land was floating right in their path.

"Everyone back away from the edge and brace for impact!" Izzy yelled. Grabbing onto nearby trees, everyone was ready for the inevitable collision, only to blink in shock as their island slowed down dramatically before gently connecting to the new area.

"This place just keeps bringing up more and more questions." Izzy said in a fascinated tone as he examined the collision area, completely missing the two dull looks Mimi and Naruto were sending him. Looking at each-other, they both nodded before walking to either side of the red-head and lifting him up by his arms.

"Hey! What are you doing! Put me down!" The duo ignored Izzy's indignant shouts and demands in favor of walking onwards, not wanting to deal with the genius kid getting caught up in his quest for knowledge. Palmon and Tentomon looked at the three then at each-other before shrugging their shoulders and following.

*BOOM!*

The whole group paused as they heard a loud explosion in the distance followed by a large cloud of black smoke. "How much you wanna bet that that was the others?"

-End Chapter-

AN: A filler chapter, I'm sorry but I felt that I needed to add in some more character development and to emphasis just how bad Mimi's mental condition is given that I've mostly glossed over it in the last chapters. Thank you for reading and please review.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 15-

-Last Time-

 _"Hey! What are you doing! Put me down!" The duo ignored Izzy's indignant shouts and demands in favor of walking onwards, not wanting to deal with the genius kid getting caught up in his quest for knowledge. Palmon and Tentomon looked at the three then at each-other before shrugging their shoulders and following._

 _*BOOM!*_

 _The whole group paused as they heard a loud explosion in the distance followed by a large cloud of black smoke. "How much you wanna bet that that was the others?"_

-And Now-

"We should hurry, if that was some of our friends, then they're probably in trouble." Izzy said, getting nods all around.

"Then lets speed things up, shall we." Tentomon stated as he started to glow brightly. " _Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!_ Attention passengers, Kabuterimon Airlines now boarding," The now much larger digimon said in a joking tone as he knelt down and allowed the others to climb up on his back.

"Brilliant idea Kabuterimon, now let's goOOO!" Izzy screamed from Kabuterimon's back, almost falling off when the bug digimon took to the sky at high speed. Luckily, Mimi and Palmon managed to catch him before he went far and pushed him back into his spot. "Thanks,"

"Don't mention it," the duo said in sync, causing them to look at each-other in surprise before giggling.

In less than a minute, the group was flying over the scene of the explosion and sure enough there was Tai (Dressed), Matt (who had a blanket wrapped around him like a toga), and T.K. (dressed but missing his shoes), with Garurumon, Greymon, and Patamon duking it out against Leomon and Ogremon in a small town made out of giant cushy children's building blocks.

At first, it seemed like Greymon and Garurumon had everything under control, with the orange dino digimon taking on Leomon while the blue wolf dealt with Ogremon. Unfortunately, just when they were about to deal the finishing blows, several black gears shot down from the sky and sank into the possessed lion digimon's back.

"GRAAA **AAAAH!** " Leomon bellowed in agony as he rapidly tripled in size and turned a sickly grey color. Greymon tried to tackle him while he was distracted, only to fail as Leomon dodged out of the way with startling speed and backhanded the dino halfway across the town. "Fist of the Beast King!" He then proceeded to blast Garurumon through several buildings with a black version of his signature attack.

Leomon then turned his attention towards T.K. who was trembling in terror as Patamon flew in front of him protectively. "Oh god, we have to help them!" Mimi cried as they watched Patamon try to keep the approaching digimon at bay with his 'boom bubble' with little effect.

"I got this, you guys take care of Ogremon!" Naruto yelled back as, much to Mimi, Izzy, and Palmon's shock he suddenly dove off Kabuterimon's back.

"Did he really just do that?" Mimi asked in a blank voice, getting stunned nods from either side.

-On the ground-

"AAH!"

"Patamon!?" T.K. cried as his partner was snatched out of the air by the mutated Leomon and tightly squeezed until he cried out in pain. "Let go of him you big meanie!"

"Must eliminate the children! Must eliminate the child-" Leomon was cut off from his mantra by a bright glow coming from above him. Turning his gaze upwards, he was just in time to be greeted with the sight of Naruto in his Teumesemon form hurtling straight at him before his face became intimately familiar with the bottom of the boy's foot.

"Dōteki entorī o hineru! (Twisting Dynamic Entry!)" The blonde cried, digging his foot deep into his opponents face as he spun in place and rammed his other foot into the back of the lion digimon's head, embedding him several inches into the ground face first. The blow made him loosen his grip on Patamon, allowing the small yellow digimon to squirm free and fly back to T.K.. Naruto didn't stop there as he continued to spin in midair until his tails slammed into Leomon's back and sent him even further into the dirt. "Kitsune no sōgi! (Fox Tail Burial!)"

Hopping back from the large crater he just created, Naruto smirked as he saw his opponent weakly crawl back out with a groan. "Ha! I told Bushy Brow that adding a new twist would work awesomely!" He cheered to himself, reminding himself to rub it in Lee's face later that he was right.

His humor swiftly turned to dead seriousness though as he saw Leomon quickly recover from his surprise attack, the wounds he just inflicted already entirely healed. "Must destroy you." Leomon stated as he drew his sword in a reverse grip.

"Well at least you said something different this time, though not by much," Naruto deadpanned, before a large grin crossed his face as he drew a kunai. "Come on then kitty cat, let's dance!" In the blink of an eye, the two fighters were right in front of each-other, their blades clashing against each-other in small showers of sparks.

-Meanwhile, with the others-

"Patamon, are you okay?" T.K. asked in a worried tone as his battered partner barely managed to fly into his arms.

"Ugh, Yeah, just need to rest a little, *gurgle* and maybe get something to eat." Patamon said as his stomach growled loudly. T.K. laughed slightly at that, never noticing the shadow covering him until it was too late.

"Well how about I give you your last meal!" Ogremon yelled from behind them, making T.K. whirl around in terror as the green digimon's bone club descended towards them. "Pummel Wha- AARRGH!"

"Electro Shocker!" "Needle Spray!"

Thankfully, before Ogremon could finish his attack, a barrage of needles and electricity blasted into his backside and sent him flying off into the forest with a howl of agony. Moments later Togemon and Kabuterimon landed on the ground with a crash, with the bug digimon leaning down so his passengers could dismount.

"Hey guys, glad to see you're alright!" Tai yelled as he and Matt rushed over to them while carrying their KO'd partners.

"You as well, but now is not the time for pleasant greetings." Izzy stated as he and everyone else turned their attention back to the conflict between Naruto and Leomon just as the duo get into a blade lock. "We need to help him."

"Then what are we standing here for?" Togemon asked rhetorically as she charged straight into the fight… only to get launched right back out by Leomon backhanding her without looking away from Naruto. Caught by surprise, Togemon was unprepared for the blow and thus was literally slapped out of her champion form as she crashed into one of the buildings, sending fluff flying everywhere.

"Okay… … anyone have a plan B," Kabuterimon asked nervously while everyone stared on in shock at how easily the cactus digimon had been defeated.

-Back to the fight-

"You think I'm just gonna let you get away with hurting my friend like that?! Think again!" Naruto growled out as a flaming ball of energy started forming in his free hand. When it was finished, released his hold on the kunai and ducked down, causing Lemon to overextend his arm. Using the brief loss of balance to his advantage, the foxy blonde slipped into the lion digimon's guard and rammed his attack straight into his opponent's stomach. "Seirei-en Rasengan!"

Angling the blow slightly, Naruto smirked as instead of flying backwards, Leomon was launched several feet into the air. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two clones poofed into existence beside him and all three jumped into the air above the now falling digimon. "27 Tēru Hōdan! (27 Tailed Barrage!)" All three called while slamming their tails into Leomon, sending him flying back into the crater from before and doubling the size of it.

Landing perfectly back to the ground, Naruto panted tiredly and fell to one knee while devolving back to his Kitsumon form, his two clones vanishing in puffs of smoke. *Huff* "Please tell me that *Huff* that took care of him," Naruto said, one hand rising up to his chest that was throbbing in pain. ' _By Kami, that smarts,'_

"Must… destroy… you…. Must… destroy… you…"

"Damnit," Naruto cursed as the battered and bruised, but still standing, form of Leomon climbed back out of the crater again while repeating the same phrase over and over. Looking back over to the others, Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch with annoyance when he saw them just standing around and staring at him dumbly. "OI! A LITTLE HELP OUT HERE WOULD BE NICE RIGHT ABOUT NOW!"

That seemed to do the trick as it snapped everyone out of their stupor. "Everyone quick, get your digivice out, they can destroy black gears!" Izzy said as he and Mimi pulled out theirs and pointed them right as Leomon while walking towards him.

"What? Oh, Oh right!" Tai exclaimed while doing the same, remembering his doing so to Leomon before when he was still on Infinity Mountain. Matt looks at all of them with a 'Are you serious?' look before sighing as he followed suit.

Leomon saw them approaching and tried to back away, but only for his still healing wounds to act up and making him stumble. In that moment of weakness, Naruto stood back up and crossed both arms over his chest as they started to glow. "Diamond Storm!" He called as he threw his arms open, forming dozens of crystal fragments that flung themselves at Leomon. While not doing much damage, the attack itself distracted the possessed digimon long enough for the four kids to surround him with their digivices at point blank range.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHGGG!" Leomon howled in pain as each device blasted him with pure white light. Hitting him at all sides, he had nowhere to flee and within seconds the black gears were forced out and obliterated.

With the gears removed, Leomon rapidly shrank back down to his normal size before collapsing to his knees with a pained groan. "Thank goodness that's over with," Naruto said with a sigh as he fell back onto his rear with a tired sigh.

Meanwhile, unnoticed to everyone there, Ogremon snuck away with a dark chuckle.

-Few Minutes Later-

"Sorry about roughing you up so much, but you just wouldn't stay down." Naruto said as he and Leomon rested against the same tree with the others surrounding them, now fully dressed. Turned out the ex-possessed digimon had been using their clothes as a means to track them and so had them all on hand nearby.

"It is alright, you only did what you had to," Leomon waved off the apology as he finished bandaging himself up. "Though if I may ask, what digimon are you? You share any similarities to a Renamon including their signature attack, yet you clearly are not one."

"That's cause I'm human," Naruto stated, getting Leomon to stop and look at him with disbelieving expression. Seeing this, Naruto clarified. "Well, used to be human to be more exact."

"Another digimon called Kitsunemon forcefully changed him into what he is now before our very eyes when we first met each-other." Izzy explained, hoping it would clear things up.

Leomon slowly nodded, sitting in silence as he seemed to mull over the information. "I have never heard of a Kitsunemon before, so it mustn't be a native of File Island." He stated, getting surprised gasps from the surrounding kids and digimon while Naruto became slightly nervous. "But that is a mystery to solve for another time, I'm sure you all have many questions of your own."

Naruto visibly relaxed at the change of subject, something that only Mimi noticed when she glanced over at him while the boys were busy getting answers from Leomon. ' _Why is he so relieved? It's almost like he's afraid of us learning about…'_ Her train of thought drifted off as her eyes widened.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Leomon as he started speaking again. "According to ancient legend, our world would be taken over by a strange dark force that would change good digimon into bad ones. My ancestors predicted that a group of children called the digidestined would appear from another world. When they appear, these children would acquire a tremendous power that would save this world from destruction."

"And let me guess," Naruto cut in, "That those annoying gears and whoever is controlling them is this 'dark force' and that these guys and our missing pals are supposed to be these 'digidestined'." He said, using air quotes and gesturing towards the five kids, getting a nod from Leomon.

"I believe so, them having the digivices in their possession was my first inkling, then there is the rumor that the chosen children could make digimon digivolve, which you have done." Naruto didn't say anything, personally he didn't put much stock in fate, destiny, or all that jazz, but he couldn't deny that Leomon mad e a few good points.

"Well personally I hope that is the case." Izzy said, getting the others to look at him in shock, confusion, and surprise. "If what Leomon says is true, then that would mean as soon as we take care of this darkness problem we should be sent straight back home. Since there would be no need for us to be here then." He explained getting looks of understanding from all around.

"But still, how do we even do that?" Matt asked as he stood up and started pacing. "We're not even sure who's causing this mess, and whit if it's a force that's too big for us to handle."

"Well, to answer that first part, Devimon is the main cause of all this evil. To save this island, you will have to defeat him." Leomon stated while pointing to Infinity Mountain.

At this, Tai stood up with a brave face as turned towards said mountain. "Then let's get going. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we all get to go home."

-In the distance-

"Hmm, looks like their getting to the end boss fight finally." Kitsunemon said to himself as he observed the group from a new spot. He watched as the group rallied to whatever the goggle wearing idiot said and clambered into the pussy cat's boat.

Turning his head slightly while taking a sip out of his drink, he readjusted his binoculars until they focused in on the missing two kids as they rode their respective digimon. "And looks like it just in time for the whole gang to get back together again."

Allowing the binoculars to drop back into his lap, Kitsunemon stood up and pulled a large empty movie theater popcorn bucket out of seemingly nowhere. "Well, best to get a refill before the big finale. Oh! I hope one or two end up dying in the end, that would just make my day." The dark fox digimon said to himself as he walked away.

-End Chapter-

AN: The big confrontation comes. How will Naruto being there affect the outcome? Find out next chapter. Thank you for reading and please review.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 16-

-Last Time-

 _But still, how do we even do that?" Matt asked as he stood up and started pacing. "We're not even sure who's causing this mess, and what if it's a force that's too big for us to handle."_

 _"Well, to answer that first part, Devimon is the main cause of all this evil. To save this island, you will have to defeat him." Leomon stated while pointing to Infinity Mountain._

 _At this, Tai stood up with a brave face as turned towards said mountain. "Then let's get going. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we all get to go home."_

…

 _Allowing the binoculars to drop back into his lap, Kitsunemon stood up and pulled a large empty movie theater popcorn bucket out of seemingly nowhere. "Well, best to get a refill before the big finale. Oh! I hope one or two end up dying in the end, that would just make my day." The dark fox digimon said to himself as he walked away._

-And Now-

A grim silence enveloped the group of children and digimon as they marched along a cliffside. It had only been a few minutes ago that they had reached land and started reclimbing Infinity Mountain.

Everyone was on guard as despite it being the middle of the day, the sky was already darkening at an alarming rate and several black gears were flying past them and up the mountain side. The only ones seemingly unaffected were Naruto and Leomon, but if you looked close enough you could see the subtle stiffness in their movements that belied their alertness.

Their worry was justified as just about half way up, the entire mountain started shaking suddenly before a gigantic crashing was heard. Following the sound, everyone's jaw hit the ground as they saw a now ginormous sized Devimon burst out of the mountain top.

"It's him! Devimon!" Leomon yelled as said digimon stood up and stretched out his equally massive wings.

"Damn! He's even bigger than boss toad." Naruto said while gentle rubbing a terrified Mimi's shoulders as she clung to his tail again.

"Classic villain logic, always thinking bigger is better," Izzy stated, shivering slightly with most of the others as Devimon gazed down at the with his glowing red eyes.

"Don't underestimate him," Leomon said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "The power Devimon now wields is both immense and dangerous."

"Enough with the chit chat, here he comes. _Kitsumon digivolve to… Teumesemon!_ " Naruto stated, digivolving as the others looked up to see that he was right. Devimon had taken to the air and was now rapidly descending to where they were.

Within seconds he arrived, landing in the forest below with a crash, knocking T.K. over from the quakes. Even then, as he stood back up, his full height had him easily towering over them by a few stories.

"I'm pretty sure Naruto has the right idea, you guys should hurry up and digivolve already." Tai said, getting nods from the digimon except Patamon and Leomon. With speed that caught all of them off guard though, Devimon pointed one of his arms at them and released a blast of dark energy. Only Leomon and Naruto, whom was now carrying Mimi as she was the closest to him, were able to avoid the attack in time thanks to their battle honed instincts while everyone else was pushed into the mountain side.

"Do you think me a fool!?" Devimon demanded as he continued to pin the group against the wall with one hand as the other attempted to do the same to Leomon and Naruto. "Did you honestly think I would just stand around and let you reach your full strength!? I shall not play childish games with you! I am much too smart for tha-GAH!"

So focused on his task, the devil themed digimon never noticed as several missile like projectiles flew up into the sky until they were exploding against his back. "Direct hit Ikkakumon!" The familiar voice of Joe called out as him in his boxers and said digimon were seen walking in from the beach.

At the same time Birdramon flew into sight, dropping Sora off by the others before charging at Devimon. "Meteor Wing!" Balls of fire flew from the phoenix like digimon's wings and struck the dazed dark digimon in the chest, making him stumble back a few steps.

"Hurry up guys! We have to hit him all at once!" Sora said while also trying to keep as much of her underwear clad self as hidden as possible.

"You heard the girl! Get your asses moving!" Naruto yelled, landing back down next to them and setting Mimi back down. He didn't bother waiting for a response as he charged back into the fight.

" _Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"_

 _"Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon!"_

 _"Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

 _"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!"_

By the time those four had finished digivolving, Naruto was riding along Birdramon's back as he charged up a Seirei-en Rasengan with as much power as he could. "Alright, I'm ready!" He said as he held the brightly glowing flaming sphere in hand.

"Here we go then!" Birdramon called as she divebombed straight at Devimon while he was focused fending off simultaneous attacks from the others. Just as he swatted Togemon and Kabuterimon away and Ogremon emerged from the devil digimon's back to bash a surprised Leomon in the head, Birdramon made a sharp turn in mid-air, launching Naruto at ridiculous speeds.

He flew straight towards Devimon's back, right at where Ogremon was, who was too busy gloating about his master's supposed unstoppable strength to notice the incoming threat in time. With a battle cry that caused Devimon himself to freeze up, the blonde hybrid slammed into his opponent and dug his attack right in the surprised ogre's face.

Naruto smirked as his rasegan literally smashed Ogremon out of Devimon and into the distance with a scream. Now all he had to do was keep up the heat and victory was thei-

PAIN!

Naruto bit his tongue in shock as huge amounts of pain suddenly flared inside his chest, breaking his focus long enough for his attack to disperse. Clutching his chest in agony, he was eft completely open for Devimon who reached through the newly formed hole in his torso and grabbed him before he could recover.

"You have certainly been a major thorn in my side! I may not know what you, but I know what you will be and THAT IS DEAD!" Devimon yelled, throwing Naruto into the mountainside before smashing him with his fist several times.

"Naruto?!" Mimi screamed in horror as she and the other digidestined could only watch as their friend fell to the ground after Ikkakumon drew Devimon's attention away from him. Seeing him standing back up, they were at first relieved to see him standing, only for their eyes to widen as they saw that one of his arms bent at an unnatural angle, most of his tails all crumpled up, and blood was slowly oozing from his lips.

Instead of screaming in pain or outright passing out like a normal person, Naruto simply grit his teeth and snapped his arm back into place and stretched his tails back to normal with several sickening cracks before focusing back on the fight. Greymon, Ikkakumon, and Kabuterimon had devolved back into their rookie forms from taking too much damage while Togemon, Garurumon, and Birdramon looked to be on their last legs.

Devimon himself was covered in bruises and cuts, along with still having a gaping hole in his midsection, but they were already rapidly healing away and he wasn't showing any signs of slowing down any time soon. While trying to think of a way to beat him, Naruto felt his blood run cold as the titanic dark digimon suddenly shifted his attention towards the most defenseless members of their group, T.K. and Patamon.

"The legends say the smallest amongst you shall destroy me! So by destroying you, I shall have nothing to worry about!" He declared while reaching towards the terrified child with a wicked grin. "Just hold still and make this easy on the both of us!"

"Howling Blaster!" "Stay away from him!" Thankfully, Garurumon managed to blast the hand away before it could reach it's intended target and even jumped onto said limb, biting as deeply as he could. Birdramon and Togemon followed his example and latched onto his face and leg respectively, trying to cause as much damage as they could while keeping him restrained.

While this was happening, Naruto was doing something odd. He had his tail curled around him with the flaming tips lined up in a circular formation in front of him, lined up directly with Devimon. ' _I doubt I can do this more than once, so better make it count.'_ He thought while lining circle with Devimon's chest while raising his hand up.

A Rasengan easily twice as large as any he'd ever made before formed between his two hands while the flames coming from his tails and hands were sucked into it. Within seconds, the orb of spiraling energy looked almost like a miniature blue sun with a ring of blue fire rotating around it.

Right as he finished, Devimon blasted away his three unwanted passengers with an explosion of dark energy and his hand was enclosing around T.K. and Patamon. "Eat this you Teme! Taiyō no Seishin! (Spirit of the Sun!)" He yelled as the attack flew at Devimon just as a sudden blast of light erupted from the dark digimon's hand.

This caused Devimon to recoil, which in turn ended up making Naruto's final attack only lightly graze against his side before flying off into the distance. *Sigh* "Damn… so… close…" Naruto panted out as he reverted to his chibi form. The last things he saw before everything went black was Patamon's new form of Angemon and everyone's stunned faces when his attack hit the mountain side and completely vaporized a huge chunk of it.

-Unknown amount of time later-

Naruto groaned softly, snuggling his face deeper into his pillow as sunlight glared through his eyelids. Hearing a soft giggling, he froze up slightly before raising his head with his eyes slowly blinking open. ' _Déjà vu,'_ He thought groggily when he saw Mimi's blushing face looking back at him.

It then took approximately .0001 seconds for him to decide he was too tired to care about his current position, opting to go back to leaning against her chest as he lazily looked around. Sora, now fully dressed, Biyomon, and Gomamon were leaning against a rock tiredly, with Sora occasionally fidgeting with her the scabbed over scratches littering her hands. Joe, also dressed, was going around treating any injuries that needed attention..

Izzy was back on his computer, the sound of furious typing filling the air as Tentomon sat beside him, dozing away if the comical snot bubble was to go by. And finally, Matt and Gabumon were over with T.K., who was holding a large white and orange striped egg, trying to cheer the down looking boy up.

"Uhhh, how long was I out this time?" Naruto asked, reaching up to scratch his ear only to end up cringing as a jolt of pain shot down his arm.

"Three hours, seven minutes, and twenty-nine seconds," Izzy stated without looking away from his computer, missing the slightly weirded out looks he received.

"…"

"…Anyway, what did I miss?"

"We beat Devimon thanks to Patamon sacrificing himself…" Sora said quietly, glancing sadly at T.K. as he hugged the egg tighter to his chest. "…but then learned there are even more evil digimon we have to beat somewhere across the ocean."

"Of course there are," Naruto grumbled, it was never that easy for him. If his track record with missions were to go by, every time it looked like they were just about to finish and go home without much a problem, there was always that Kami damned catch. Every time!

"How are you feeling by the way? You got pretty messed up in that fight." Joe told him bluntly as he walked up to Naruto and Mimi and started looking the blonde over.

"Sore as hell, but otherwise fine." Naruto said, doing his best not to squirm or flinch to much as Joe examined his arm and tail thoroughly. "But my freaking chest keeps flaring up at the worst of times though." Joe paused at this comment as everybody but Izzy and Mimi turned their heads toward him.

"Your chest keeps hurting?" Joe asked with concern.

"Yeah, got one of those stupid gears lodged in it while we all separated." Naruto said getting several gasps. "Thankfully, Mimi and Palmon here were able to pull it out of me before I could go all crazy and stuff."

"Unfortunately, due to his half organic bodily structure, the gear caused a large amount of damage to his pectoral and upper abdominal muscles instead of just coming out like normal." Izzy added in, making everyone but Joe to blink in confusion.

"And you're just telling me this now?!" Joe demanded as he suddenly pulled Naruto's shirt up, reveling a thin black scar across his upper chest. The blonde chibi giggled lightly and squirmed around as Joe ran his fingers over the affect area.

"The injury had already healed up just fine by the time we got here so I didn't think it would be that big a deal." The computer whizz retorted with a shrug, still not looking up from his computer. Joe looked ready to say something back, but was cut off by a loud cracking noise.

Out of the ground, an odd circular machine burst out of the ground and began emitting a rainbow of light. In the middle of the light show, an image of a mostly bald, hunched over man with squinted eyes was revealed. [Hello? Hello? Is this thing working?]

Distracted by this sudden event, Joe looked away just as the scar on Naruto's chest pulsed ever so slightly. Because of that, he also missed as Naruto's eyes gained a light red tint for a split second before fading back to normal.

-End Chapter-

AN: Devimon is defeated, but Naruto and his new friends journey has only just begun. You may have questions such as what is happening to Naruto? Will Mimi get over her trauma? Will Kitsunemon cause even more problems for our group of heroes? Read more to find out. Thank you for reading and please review.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 17-

-Last Time-

 _Out of the ground, an odd circular machine burst out of the ground and began emitting a rainbow of light. In the middle of the light show, an image of a mostly bald, hunched over man with squinted eyes was revealed. [Hello? Hello? Is this thing working?]_

 _Distracted by this sudden event, Joe looked away just as the scar on Naruto's chest pulsed ever so slightly. Because of that, he also missed as Naruto's eyes gained a light red tint for a split second before fading back to normal._

-And now-

[Ah! So you must be the digidestined. You must be strong to have defeated Devimon.] The elderly man said, surprising everyone their even more.

"Wha? How do you know who we are? Who are you?" Tai demanded.

"Are you one of Devimon's associates?" Matt added, putting everyone else on edge.

[At ease young ones, I am friend to all yet friend to none.] The old man told them, which only ended up confusing the majority of them.

"Okay… well it is nice to know there are other humans other than us in this world." Sora said with a smile, getting a few nods and agreements from the others.

[I am human, and yet I am not.]

"Oh can we please stop with the riddles already." Naruto groaned, causing the old man to look at him in surprise. "They're really starting to give me a headache." The chibi blonde emphasized this by grabbing his head dramatically.

This actually seemed to stump the man for a moment as he did nothing but stare at Naruto for several moments before speaking again. [Hmph, I tried to contact you all earlier but was unable to get a connection during your battle with Devimon. Now however, the lines are perfectly clear and only ten cents a minute.]

"You still haven't explained who you are. And where are you anyway?" Izzy cut in.

[My name is Gennai, and I am speaking to you from far away from File Island, across the ocean from the continent of Server.]

"Wow, that's one heck of a long-distance call," Sora said with surprise, "How long have you been here?"

[Since before the beginning and until the end.] The elderly man told her, ignoring the groan Naruto gave at the elusive response.

"Are… are you the one who brought us here to the digital world?" Mimi asked hesitantly, a good amount of distain and fear in her voice as she spoke. This caused everyone but Izzy and Sora to look at her in surprise, not used to hearing such a tone of voice from the kind, albeit slightly spoiled, girl.

[It was not I,]

"Then who was it?" Mimi insisted, her hold on Naruto tightening slightly.

[It was…] Everyone leaned in slightly as he started, [… I don't know…]

*Crash!* That was the sound of everyone faceplanting at once.

"Do you at least know how these guys can get back home?" Naruto asked, making the children look towards him with confusion. They were wondering why he left himself out of that, but decided not to worry about it for now.

[I am sorry, I do not.]

"Well your just a regular fountain of information aren't you," Tai said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

[I apologize for not being able to help you… but perhaps you can be of help to m-]

"Let me guess, you need us to go on a long perilous journey to reach where you are and beat up some bad guys that are causing problems for you," Naruto cut Gennai off with a bored look.

The elderly man coughed awkwardly as all the other's but Tai and Agumon gave him a deadpan look. [Errm, yes, many evil digimon have been causing havoc here and I have not the ability to stop them myself. As the digidestined and with your most recent triumph over Devimon, I have great faith in your ability to handle them.]

"As… much as we would like to… help," Izzy said somewhat hesitantly, "We have no idea how to reach you and it would be nothing short of suicide to just go off sailing in a random direction."

If he noticed the hesitation, Gennai didn't react to it as he turned to the computer whizz. [Oh right, I forgot that you all are from out of town. Let me create a map on your computer real quick.]

"Huh, Wha!?" Izzy exclaimed as his head snapped towards the computer bag on his back.

"And how exactly are we supposed to beat these bad guys?" Joe asked, waving his arms in mild hysteria before stopping to grab his arm with a yelp. "Ow ow ow, their probably just as strong if not stronger than Devimon and we only beat him by the skin of our teeth."

[You are right, as you are you would be no match for them… But, if you can get your digimon digivolve again then you would be.]

"Wait, we can digivolve even more?" Agumon asked in shock, getting a nod from the elderly man.

[Yes, but you need special items in order to do so.] He said before his image vanished, replaced with the images of a golden ta and a blank orange crest. [If you have the tags and crests together then your digimon will be able to digivolve even further.]

"And they are… where exactly?" Matt asked.

[The crests are scattered about, you can find them all over the continent of Server.] Gennai told them as the image of the crest slid into the tag before vanishing and he reappeared. [The tags however, were stolen and secretly sealed away somewhere by Devim-] *Kzzzzt* The old man was cut off as the hologram started going on the fritz.

[GAAH! *Kzzzt* Ple-please hurry! *Kzzt* You must come! *Kzzt* I'll be waiting...] *kzzzzzsput* Was all he managed to get out before the hologram sputtered out completely.

"…"

Complete silence surrounded the group as they stared at the inactive device, mulling over the information they just got. Naruto looked annoyed with a face that just screamed 'I knew this would happen', All of the kids but Tai had looks of nervousness, exhaustion, and irritation, Tai himself looked somewhat excited, and the digimon were curious and, judging by the way they were holding their stomach, hungry.

"Soooo… do we really follow the instructions of some weird old guy that we just met and know nothing about?" Matt asked.

"While your suspicion is warranted, we don't exactly have many other options or leads to go on." Izzy said while pulling his computer out and typed a few commands. "I at least got the map he promised before the transmission was cut off."

"Still, it just… just seems like a bad idea. The saying stranger danger exists for a reason after all." Sora said, still fidgeting with her hands nervously.

"Hold on, I have a full proof plan guys." Tai said, getting all of their attention. "Let's grab some grub and then afterwards I'm open to suggestions." He said trying to lighten the mood.

The response he received were several annoyed and deadpan stares.

-The next day-

A now Kitsumon Naruto groaned in frustration as he listened to the others, mostly Tai, Matt, and Joe, bicker. They had gone to the beach of the now fully reassembled island after eating and getting some sleep, and after a short debate had decided to go to where this 'Gennai' guy was. The only problem though, they had no boat.

Using Izzy's computer to make a schematic, the group had swiftly devolved into an arguing mess over how the bout should be built. "The raft should have railings! That way no one will fall off!"

"No! They'd make it two clunky and it wouldn't sail right!"

"And what do you know about sailing!"

"More than you do!"

' _Dear Kami! I really owe Kakashi-sensei an apology as well if this is what he had to deal with all the time!'_ Naruto thought remembering all the times he and Sasuke would get at each-other's throats over petty things.

 _'If only I could get the stupid summoning jutsu to work. I'm pretty sure it just needs more power but how would I… Wait a minute…'_ "YOU COMPLETE DUMBASS!" Naruto screamed while bashing his head repeatedly into a boulder until it was nothing but rubble, causing the argument around to come screeching to a halt.

Without responding as Mimi and Joe repeatedly asked him what was wrong, he simply flared his chakra making him evolve into his Teumesemon. Then, biting his thumb until it bled, he swiftly went through the familiar three hand signs while channeling as much chakra as he could into his hands. "Summoning Jutsu!" He yelled while slamming his hands onto the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke with a 'poof'.

"Hey! What the hell's going on!?" An unfamiliar male voice called out as the smoke slowly dissipated, revealing a small orange toad with purple and black markings wearing a blue vest. It looked around for a few seconds before spotting Naruto and gasping in surprise. "WHAT THE FUCK! Naruto!? Is that you?!"

"Gamakichi! Oh am I glad to see you dattabayo!" Naruto exclaimed as he grabbed the large amphibian and hugged him tightly. "You would not believe the insanity I've had to deal with for the last few days!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Naruto!" The orange toad cried out, squirming out of the blonde's grip and landed on the ground with a thump. "What in the world happened to you?! You look like the-"

"I know exactly what I look like!" Naruto cut in, "And if you think that's bad, the Kyuubi's out of the seal!" As soon as the words left Naruto's lips, Gamakichi literally turned completely white.

"It's WHAAAAT!?"

"Yeah, that Teme's the reason I look like this!" Naruto explained as he gestured to himself, "Look, I need you to contact Baa-chan and Ero-sennin and tell them what's happened. Like I said, a lot of crazy stuff has been going on and me looking like this is actually pretty low on the list." To emphasize this, Naruto pointed over his shoulder where the digidestined and their digimon where standing with shocked faces.

He then proceeded to give the toad a full explanation on what had happened over the last few days from when he first landed here to now, eventually having the others introduce themselves. About halfway through, he devolved back to his Kitsumon form which raised even more question. Naruto intentionally avoided mentioning how he got to the island in the first place, something only Izzy, Mimi, Joe, and their digimon noticed but didn't mention for now.

"…how in Kami's name do you always end up in these convoluted messes?" Gamakichi as with a dull look as he looked towards the kids and their digimon partners.

"I have been asking myself that question ever since I got my first C-rank mission." Naruto admitted with his head drooping.

"Whatever, I'll inform Hokage-sama and the pervert as quickly as possible. Try to stay… oh who am I kidding." Gamakichi said with a laugh as he vanished in a puff of smoke, making Naruto grumble about smart-alecky toads. Turning around, he saw the others looking at him with odd looks. "What?"

"Nothing," They all said at the same time, creeping him out a little, before they went back to squabbling with each-other. Sighing in exasperation while rubbing his forehead, the fox boy left the group and headed into the woods.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Let's get to work! I want a stack of logs and other crap we'll need for the raft within the next two hours!" He called out, getting a chorus of agreements with a few grumbles as the few dozen clones scattered into the forest, the sound of explosions and crashing soon echoing out.

The original just leaned against a tree tiredly, sighing for the Kami only knows time that day as he stared up at the sky. ' _I hope everyone's okay,'_ He thought as the memories of the mission he was on before he arrived here played through his head. Many of his friends had gone with him to retrieve Sasuke and all of them had ended up separating to fight extremely dangerous opponents just so he could catch up with the duck haired Uchiha.

With all the excitement that had been going on for the last few days they had completely slipped his mind, but talking to Gamakichi had made him remember and guilt coursed through him at how easily he'd forgotten about them. He knew there was a very good chance one or more of them could have died on that mission.

"You seem pretty down young man, what seems to be the problem." Naruto jumped in surprise at the unexpected voice, his head snapping to the side to see Centarumon standing next to him.

"Huh? Oh hey Centarumon, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, "I thought you couldn't leave the ruins."

"Normally I cannot," The horse-man digimon admitted, "But I and a few others agreed that an exception could be made this one time." He gestured over to his side where most of the digimon they had encountered, including Leomon, Monzaemon, and Frigimon now helping the clones. "Now what seems to be the matter with you?"

Naruto didn't respond right away, opting to go back to looking at the sky. ' _Heh, Shikamaru would probably be jealous of this view'_ "…It's nothing… I'm just overthinking things," His friend would be fine, he was sure they could take of themselves.

"Hmmm, if you say so." Centarumon said, his tone holding slight disbelief but he didn't push the subject. Instead, he trotted over to the other children as they showed up to investigate the noise. After a short but very cheerful reunion, the centaur digimon used his years of knowledge to whip up some medical remedies that would keep out infections and speed up healing.

The children then watched in awe as the digimon and clones swiftly collected the materials and built a raft. In less than an hour the vessel was completed, stocked, and sailing away with the kids waving goodbye.

"This is farewell, we wish you luck on your travels!" Leomon called as to them as the island rapidly shrunk into the distance.

"Goodbye!"

"It was nice to meet you all!"

*Crack*

Everyone stopped their yelling as they heard something breaking. Looking towards the source of the noise, they were greeted with the sight of the egg in T.K.'s arms gaining several wide cracks before falling apart. In its place was a small white blob with tiny black eyes and a small mouth. "Poyomon!"

-Chapter End-

AN: Sorry if this was a bland chapter. I made the kids more suspicious of Gennai cause honestly who wouldn't be? Some old guy you don't know just pops out of nowhere in a hologram, says and I quote 'Please come to Server and defeat our enemies', and then conveniently cuts out seconds later. Even if they are kids, with all the tricks, scams, and dangers they've run into before would have definitely made them more suspicious.

Also, as I'm sure noticed, Naruto is becoming more thoughtful, cautious, and all around less reckless than he usually is. That is cause, like I mentioned in this chapter and chapter 7, he is starting to see other people acting like he usually does from an outside perspective and it is making him more aware of his own actions. Not to mention that it was Renamon data that was used to hybridize him and they are known to be highly intelligent. He won't immediately be super mature or some crap like that, but expect to see him act or think more intelligently as the story progresses. Thank you for reading and please review.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 18-

-Last Time-

 _This is farewell, we wish you luck on your travels!" Leomon called as to them as the island rapidly shrunk into the distance._

 _"Goodbye!"_

 _"It was nice to meet you all!"_

 _*Crack*_

 _Everyone stopped their yelling as they heard something breaking. Looking towards the source of the noise, they were greeted with the sight of the egg in T.K.'s arms gaining several wide cracks before falling apart. In its place was a small white blob with tiny black eyes and a small mouth. "Poyomon!"_

-And Now-

"Ugh, I didn't calculate that the waves would be this rough," Izzy groaned as he leaned against the crates of supplies with a green face, the ever-dreaded sea sickness digging its claws deep into his being. He wasn't the only victim of this as Mimi and Joe also sat around groaning in misery as they struggled to keep their stomach content where it belonged. All three had their respective digimon next to them trying to comfort them as best they could.

It had been two days since they had set sail and it had been a thankfully very quiet and relaxed trip so far, minus the motion sickness. T.K. was cheerfully playing with Poyomon, the newly hatched baby form of Patamon, under Matt's constant supervision. Sora was cooking up something to eat with Naruto's help, that help being him evolving to his champion form so she could use his tail flames to cook with. Finally, Tai was acting as a spotter with his mini-telescope while the rest of the digimon sat around chatting idly or napping.

"Are you sure you don't mind me doing this?" Sora asked with an awkward smile as she carefully stirred the contents a makeshift frying pan with a wooden spoon. Naruto sighed in exasperation at his as he palmed his face.

"Sora, for the dozenth time, it's fine. Hell, I was the one to suggest it in the first place so stop asking and focus on the food." He said, one of his tails un-lighting for a few moments and gently bopping the helmet wearing girl's head.

This caused the girl to stumble slightly and almost drop the pan before another tail rose up and stopped it mid-fall. Looking back up to see the smirk on his face, Sora gave him a playful glare as a mischievous grin crossed her lips. Using the spoon, she scooped up a portion of the food in the dish, several small fishes that Naruto and Gomamon had caught with some vegetables and spices that they had collected before leaving, and flicked it at his face with a light *Splat*.

"Oh! She got me!" Naruto cried dramatically while pretending to be knocked over, getting the girl and a couple of the others laughing as he sat up and wiped the food off his face. Calming down, Sora finished the dish, allowing Naruto to devolve back into Kitsumon as she served everyone up.

"Uhg, how much longer till we get there?" Joe asked as he slowly ate his meal with a grimace.

"Judging by the scale of the map, our current rate of motion, and the variables for wind strength so far… about eight or nine more days." Izzy said back, also struggling to forced down his food with a green face. This earned more groans from the other two members of the sea-sick trio.

"That's way too long," Mimi moaned before her cheeks puffed out and she was quickly at the edge of the raft emptying her stomach, the sound of her retching making Joe and Izzy swiftly join her moments later.

"Sorry guys, it's just how it is, there's not a lot we can do about it." Sora said apologetically, turning slightly green herself at the noises they were making.

"Well, actually…" "Tidal wave!" *Splash* Naruto had started to say only to get cut off by Tai yell as a larger than normal wave suddenly appeared out of nowhere and washed over them.

"Pffft! Headcount now!" Naruto cried as he spat out salt water, getting a mixture of yells, coughing, and more retching. "Good, your all here. Now brace yourselves, we got company!" He yelled while pointing to a large brown and blue whale like creature that burst out of the water a short distance from them. The sudden disruption of water making more waves that shook the raft even more.

"What is that thing!?" Matt demanded as they group as everyone clung desperately to whatever they could, the only exception being Naruto as he stuck himself in place with chakra. The whale digimon was jumping and leaping all over, stirring up waves that continued to crash into them.

"A Whamon! They are deep sea dwelling digimon! Some can be rather temperamental but I have never heard of one acting so aggressively before!" Tentomon yelled back.

"I don't care what it is, we are getting the hell away from it now!" Naruto stated as he moved to the back of the raft as a single rapidly spinning ring of chakra formed in each of his hands. Before anyone could ask him what he was doing, he stuck then stuck them into the water.

*FWOOOSH* "AAAAHHH!" Everybody screamed at the top of their lungs as the raft shot off like a rocket, leaving a large wake behind them as they zipped across the water. Behind them, Whamon did one last jump before re-submerging, leaving only a large shadow in the water that followed the group at high speed.

-Several hours Later-

The boat slowed down to regular speeds as Naruto fell onto his butt, panting slightly from exertion. The sun was just starting to set in "Damn… It…" He muttered tiredly, slowly standing back up on wobbly legs, almost falling back over when Tai patted him on the back.

"Great job Naruto! You lost it." The goggle wearing boy said happily, only to blink in surprise when Naruto brushed him off and kept his eyes focused on the water, his ears twitching rapidly.

"No, I didn't, I just bought us some time. Incoming!" As he spoke, Whamon burst back out of the water behind them with its maw wide open, their boat getting dragged in by the current of water flooding into throat. Naruto tried to boost the ship away again but ended up collapsing from exhaustion. Just as they passed its lips and started sliding down it's gullet, Naruto couldn't help but say one last thing.

-A day later-

"Why does that always happen to me?" Naruto asked as he laid against the fleshy wall of Whamon's mouth with the others. After getting swallowed by the large whale digimon, the children, digimon, and himself were assaulted by large translucent blobs of goo called antibodies until they arrived in the surprisingly well-lit stomach.

While there they found a black gear that they quickly destroyed, causing Whamon to revert back to his normal peaceful nature and spit them out before the gastric acid fully dissolved their boat. Unfortunately, said raft was destroyed in the process. Thankfully Whamon had decided to give them a ride on his back to Server as both a thank you and an apology. On the plus side, the smoothness of the ride meant that Mimi, Joe, and Izzy no longer had to worry about sea-sickness.

Along the way though, the whale digimon had overheard them talking about Devimon hiding the tags and informed them that he knew where that possibly was. So now they were back in his mouth as he dove deep into the ocean. "What keeps happening to you?" Mimi, who was sitting right beside him, asked as she brushed his tail to pass the time.

"Getting swallowed by large animals. Seriously first a snake, now a freaking whale, no offense Whamon." Naruto said, missing the pale look on Mimi's face as she stopped mid-brush.

"None taken," Whamon's booming voice called back.

"You were eaten by a snake?" Mimi asked in horror. Naruto nodded with a shiver as memories of that experience played through his mind.

"Yeah, it was a summon like Gamakichi only much bigger that this creepy pedo called Orochimaru set on me while he attacked… my teammates." He trailed off as images of the retrieval mission popped to the front of his thoughts. ' _What's taking Gamakichi so long anyway?'_

"You were on a team? Like a sports team or something?" Mimi asked with a tilted head.

"Uh no, a ninja team. I am a ninja remember?" Naruto said, getting an 'oh' from Mimi.

"Could… could you tell me about them?" She requested slightly reluctantly, worried she might be toeing at the figurative landmine.

Naruto blinked in surprise at the question for a few seconds before smiling brightly. "Sure, well first there's Kakashi-sensei…" Over the next few hours Naruto talked. First was of courses describing his team, such has Kakashi and his laziness and love of Ich-Icha, to Sakura his crush and her habit of bashing him on the head (Which caused Mimi and the others who were eavesdropping on the conversation to frown), and finally Sasuke, though he kept the him going traitor part to himself.

After that he went into depth on his home, such as the hokage monument, the ninja academy, Ichiraku's (Mimi had to cut him off mid rave), and the beautiful forests all around. Naruto even talked about some of the various pranks he pulled around the village, with the painting the Hokage mountain ending up giving away the 'hidden' audience as everyone broke into uncontrollable laughter.

He was just reaching the part about how he had manged to graduate from the academy, planning on how to tell it without mentioning the Kyuubi at all, when Whamon suddenly spoke up again. "Okay everybody, we're here!" To prove his point, Whamon's mouth opened wide to reveal the large cave they were now in.

"Phew, I am not in the shape I used to be," The whale digimon said tiredly, as everyone climbed out of his mouth. "I'm just going to lay here for a bit and take a nap, probably consider going on a diet and dropping a few tons while I'm at it."

"Hope you have nice dreams, let's go gang." Tai called to the large digimon before he and the others looked down the dark tunnel ahead of them, finally realizing the big issue at hand when Whamon's mouth fully closed. They could barely see anything. "Uh, none of you happen to have a flashlight on hand, would ya?" He asked sheepishly.

"I got it covered," Naruto said with a roll of his eyes as he started to glow brightly, " _Kitsumon digivolve to Teumesemon!_ Now let's get going." He stated, his flaming limbs lighting up the place spectacularly.

With Naruto and Tai taking the lead, the group cautiously explored the undersea cavern for several minutes before stumbling upon the last thing any of them expected to find. "Is that a convenience store?" Joe asked incredulously as they all stared at the 'Deji-Mart' (Wasn't sure of if it meant to be DeJi or Deli with a funny L) sitting in the cave, with running electricity, and perfectly tiled floor all around it.

"Never seen one of those before, but this just smells of a trap." Naruto said, getting nods of agreement from the others as they all hid behind a cluster of stalagmites. "I'll go set it off,"

"Yeah, good ide- Wait what?" Tai squawked once his brain processed what Naruto said. By then it was too late to stop him as Naruto waltzed out from their cover and marched straight towards the Deji-Mart. As he expected, the moment he got within twenty feet of it something happened. In this case that something was the ground cracking open as a large purple and white mole-like digimon with a drill for a nose and more for fingers burst out with a black gear lodged in its back.

"By order of Devimon, none shall pa-ARRG!" It's villainous speech was cut short as Naruto swiftly hopped straight onto its back and incinerated the gear with a 'Seirei-en no Dangan'.

"And… done," Naruto stated as he climbed off the now confused digimon and casually walked to the store. "Are you guys coming or what?" He called back to the flabbergasted kids, snapping them back to reality as they rushed over, stumbling a bit from the ground shaking as the Drimogemon, according to Tentomon, tunneled away.

"Impressive display out there," Izzy complimented Naruto, getting a relaxed shrug in response.

"Not really, it's actually getting kinda repetitive in my opinion, especially when they just stand around talking during the fight." The fox-boy said back before entering the building. "Let's hurry up and see if those tag things are in here already."

Upon the others entering though, they were quickly distracted by the variety of goods and items stocked on the shelves. T.K. and Poyomon were naturally drawn to the candy section, Sora, Mimi, and Joe browsed around the medical and hygiene isle, Matt searched the canned food section with Gabumon, Gomamon, and Agumon, Tai was looking through the drinks with Biyomon, Palmon, and Tentomon.

The only ones actually focusing on the search were Naruto (though that was because he'd already looted all the ramen stocks into his scroll) and Izzy, who couldn't help but stop and ponder as he grabbed a bag of chips. "Why is all of this stuff down here anyway? It just doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense actually," Naruto said as he walked up to the computer whizz with a small box in his hands that he handed over. "When making a trap, the more authentic the bait looks the better. Also, here are those tag thingies we needed, they were next to the jerky."

Opening the box to double check himself, Izzy smiled as he saw the seven necklaces held inside. "Prodigious! Now all we need are the crests and the digimon will be able to digivolve further."

"That's if Gennai was telling the truth." Naruto said while pulling out his scroll and some bottles of ink he had found on one of the shelves. "But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, let's stock up a bit while we can. I'll make some more storage seals to hold some more stuff and keep it a bit more organized, you and the others figure out what we should take."

"Got it,"

After a short debate, a good amount of none-perishable foods, drinks, medical supplies, and soaps were sealed up and everybody had their pockets stuffed with a few goodies to go. With their little pit stop completed, they hightailed it back to a nicely rested Whamon and hopped back in for a one-way trip to Server.

"So can we go back to the story about how you finished the ninja academy?" T.K. asked with a excited expression.

' _Crap…'_

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry, just a filler chapter. I did extend the time they were at sea though cause I figured it would be better than them instantly getting attacked as soon as they left.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and can just leave.

Also, sorry for forgetting to add this in the story, Mimi is still wearing the dress Naruto made for her, only now she has her hat, gloves, and shoes with it.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 19-

The sound of splashing water gently filled the air and sunshine streamed through the air as Whamon calmly swam through the ocean. Upon the exposed portion of his head, all the digidestined except for Tai were grouped together with their digimon, peacefully sleeping. Tai on the other hand was idly talking to Whamon while scanning the horizon with his telescope.

"It's been days since we left File Island, we have to be close to server by now, right?" Tai asked as he lowered the scope with a tired yawn, having not quite fully woken yet.

"Yes, in fact, it should be coming into sight any second now." Whamon told him, making the boy jump up in excitement, suddenly completely awake as he scanned the horizon again with his scope.

"Where? Where? I don't see it any… nevermind, there it is!" He cheered happily as he finally spotted the approaching land mass in the distance. "Wake up everyone! Rise and shine, we're finally here!"

"I was just resting my eyes," Matt said as he sat up with a quiet yawn, his movement waking up T.K whom was resting his head on his older brother's chest.

"Yeah, well your eyes were snoring pretty loudly last night." Joe retorted, raising his head slightly to give the 'cool guy' a bland look before allowing his head to fall back onto his satchel. One by one the others slowly woke up and gave their various grumblings and complaints.

"Guys, quiet down." Sora said in a loud whisper, making them all turn to her and see her pointing at Naruto and Mimi. The latter was the only one still asleep with her head resting against the fox boy's chest. His tail clutched tightly in her arms as he carefully sat up and rubbed the crust out of his eyes. The scene itself would have been quite adorable… if it wasn't for the dark bags that were apparent under the pink loving girl's eyes.

"Oh right, sorry." Tai whispered back with a cringe. After about a day or so of sailing with Whamon and no longer able to keep her mind distracted, Mimi had started having severe nightmares about her experience with Kitsunemon. Of course, only Sora, Biyomon, Palmon, and Izzy knew this as the others had just assumed that all the stress from the last few days had finally gotten to her.

Thanks to his fast thinking, Izzy managed to convince Naruto to stay near her when she was sleeping with the excuse that his tail could act as a teddy bear of sorts that would make her more comfortable. And it worked somewhat, and the few nightmares she still had were much less severe. This in turn had been making her increasingly reluctant to even want to sleep. Heck, last night it took Naruto and Palmon almost the entire night to finally coax her enough to try.

Careful not to wake her up, Naruto gently scooped Mimi up into a bridal carry, adjusting it so her head rested against his neck while his tail curled around the sides of her head and covered her ears. By the time he was done, Whamon had made it to the shoreline and the others were getting ready to depart.

"There is a Koromon village a few miles east of here, they should be able to help you get the lay of the land." The whale digimon informed the group as they jumped off of him and onto solid ground. "But be wary young ones, though there are likely no black gears here, not all digimon will be friendly. So keep your wits about you."

"Got it Whamon, we'll be careful." Tai said as he and everyone but Naruto (for obvious reasons) waved the digimon goodbye as he sank under the waves. "Alright, let's go!" The goggled boy declared once Whamon was out of sight, pointing to the distance as he marched off… to the west.

"…not even here five minutes and he's already running off in the wrong direction," Izzy said blankly as he palmed his face. "What else could go wrong?"

-Several hours later-

"Me and my big mouth," The computer whizz grumbled as sweat poured from his forehead. Turns out the route to the Koromon ended up crossing through a freaking desert. And just like the last time the group had to cross through a desert, Naruto, Gabumon, Gomamon, and Biyomon were the worst affected as the temperature rapidly started to rise.

Naruto had it the worst as Mimi had only woke up an hour ago, thanks to the heat, and the added weight he had been carrying until then had compiled with the mild dehydration, leaving him almost completely exhausted. Thankfully Mimi, who was feeling much better after her long nap, and Tai volunteered to help him walk as they traveled.

*Kst* "Come on Naruto, you need to drink," Joe said as he held a freshly opened bottled water to the blonde's lips.

"No, *hah* I've already had *hah* one a little while ago, *hah*" Naruto said stubbornly between pants as he weakly pushed the bottle away.

"And you'll drink this one right now, you need to keep hydrated." Joe said back adamantly. "Now you either do so willingly or so help me I will have the others hold you down while I force it down your throat." The firm way he said this stunned everyone, but got the results he wanted as Naruto reluctantly accepted the bottle and swiftly drained its contents.

"See, was that so hard? Joe asked rhetorically, taking the empty container and putting it in his satchel along with several other empty bottles that he planned to refill later. "Now let's keep moving, the last thing we need is to doddle around until we all get heatstroke or something."

"Yeah, what he said," Tai agreed as the group continued moving. Their little trek continued for another hour or so, with everyone becoming increasingly sweaty and tired, when Agumon suddenly stopped mid-step and started sniffing the air intently. "What is it Agumon?"

The digimon didn't respond right away, opting to rush around in random directions here and there for several seconds with his nose held high. "…I smell Koromon! This way!" Agumon said, suddenly charging ahead of the group.

"Whoa! Wait up Agumon!" Tai yelled, letting go of Naruto as he chased after his partner. This left Mimi alone to carry Naruto as she and the rest of the group struggled to keep up with the run off duo. As they ran, the desert swiftly gave way to grassy plains and then thick forests. Eventually, they finally caught up with Agumon and Tai at the top of a large cliff overlooking a village of small dome houses surrounding one large one.

"Hey guys, nice of you to wait up for us." Matt said sarcastically, making the two look at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about? Weren't you guys right behind me?" Tai asked.

"Yeah sure*huff* right behind *wheeze* you," Mimi said while she and a slightly recovered Naruto leaned on each-other for support, breathing heavily as she glared at the sheepish goggled boy. "It wasn't like *Huff* I needed your help or anything."

"Ohhh… right, sorry," Tai apologized, earning himself an angry huff from the girl as she marched off.

"Whatever, let's just go say hiiIIIIIIIII!" Mimi screamed as the ground suddenly crumbled out from beneath her and Naruto, sending them tumbling down to the village below.

"MIMI!" Palmon screamed as she ran after the falling duo.

Smashing through the thick foliage and roots, Naruto acted fast by pulling Mimi close to his chest and curling into a ball around her. He did his best to ignore the loud screaming in his ear as he crashed into several trees, roots, bushes, and rocks, a grunt escaping his lips with each impact. Then as if to add insult to injury, when they finally reached the bottom of the hill, they landed right smack in the middle of a large pond-sized pool of mud with a loud *splat*.

Silence filled the area for a brief few moments before the two burst to the surface, coughing and hacking as they crawled out of the pool of liquid earth. *Crack* "Ow… let's not do that again." Naruto groaned, his back and joints popping loudly as he stretched before he suddenly froze up.

"Blegh, this is not the kind of mud bath I was hoping for," Mimi groaned as she tried unsuccessfully to shake the brown goop off herself, not noticing Naruto's tenseness.

"Mimi, get behind me, now." Naruto said sternly, making the girl snap out of her little moment and finally notice their company. They were surrounded by dozens of little grey furred, legless bunny creatures with dark red eyes that held a dark mischievous smiles that set both of them on edge.

"Hello~! Welcome~! Welcome~! To our humble village~!" The little things said in a happy sing-song tone. "How can we assist you on this lovely day~?"

While this cheery welcome would normally help put most people at ease, including Mimi, Naruto remained slightly on edge as he held a feeling of wrongness. He didn't know why, but something about these digimon was just setting his internal alarms to code red. Yet, seeing as they hadn't done anything wrong (yet) he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Didn't mean he wouldn't be keeping a very close eye on them.

"Well," Mimi said as she looked down at muddy herself with a grimace, "You wouldn't happen to have a nice warm bath around somewhere would you?"

"Why we have better! A hot-spring! One of the best in all of Server in fact!" One of the bunny things said as it waved over to his buddies with his ears. Swarming around them, the small digimon used their number advantage to hoist Naruto and Mimi off the ground and carry them off.

"Mimi, are these things Koromon?" Naruto whispered in Mimi's ear as they passed the small buildings and straight to the main one in the center.

"I… I don't think so," Mimi whispered back unsurely with a shrug, "I'm pretty sure Agumon used to be one and he didn't look like these guys at all. Or at least I think he didn't."

' _Great, surrounded by unknowns and in bad condition cause of the desert. Now I know what that bad feeling is. Every time I'm in this kind of situation, it ends up with something going to shit. Literally every time!'_ Naruto thought in frustration. "Keep your eyes peeled then, just in case."

They were carried up several floors before finally being set down in a small changing room. "The spring is right over here!" The same little digimon said, pulling a curtain out of the way to reveal the pool of steaming glittering water. Just as quickly though, the digimon closed said curtain and turned to them with a wicked grin. "But of course, there are some rules before you enter! The key one being… NO DIRTY CLOTHES ALLOWED! GET EM!"

"Say wha… EEEP!" Mimi yelped as she and Naruto were dogpiled by the group of digimon. Faster than either of them could react thanks to their exhaustion, the bunny things somehow managed to strip the duo down in only a few seconds before tossing them both straight into the warm water.

Naruto was the first to recover, bursting out of the water sputtering as he looked towards the retreating digimon. "Oi! Get back here with my stuff you little… little… little…" He trailed off as Mimi popped up out of the water right in front of him.

…

…

Both of them stared at the other in shock for several moments, their brains not quite registering what they were seeing as their eyes roamed the other's nude form. It wasn't until Mimi's eyes finally locked on 'little Naruto' that she finally snapped back to reality and blushed so deep it would make rubies jealous.

-Outside, outskirt of the village-

"We gotta hurry guys! Naruto and Mimi could be seriously hurt!" Tai yelled as he scanned the surrounding area with his mini-spyglass.

"I'm sure Naruto is fine, it'll take a lot more than that little fall to hurt him. Mimi in the other hand I agree with." Joe said while searching through a field of tall grass.

"Yeah, he did pretty much shrug off getting smashed into a mountain… and through several steel walls… and being blown up… and being crushed by several barrels," Izzy started listing off, making everyone in the area wince slightly at those memories.

"We get it, Naruto's really tough." Matt cut in, his hands covering T.K.'s ears. "Let's just focus on figuring out where they are-''

 _ **"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKK!"**_

"That was Mimi!" Tai said as they all ran towards the source of the scream.

-Back to Naruto and Mimi-

' _Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!'_ Mimi thought, her face practically melting as she sat on her side of the spring with every part of her below her nose completely submerged. She wanted nothing more than to get out of the hot-spring right then and there, but the digimon took all their stuff, including their clothes. So her options were either stay in the water where she was at least partially covered thanks to the bubble bath bomb she'd just used and hope someone brought her clothes back, or climb out and try to get them back herself while completely exposing herself.

You can guess which option she took.

"I am so, so sorry Mimi! I didn't mean to stare, I swear!" Naruto apologized from his side, his own blush having subsided some. ' _Oh Kami, if Tsunade-baachan ever finds out about this she'll turn me into a narutomaki!'_ He mentally screamed, the terrifying thought succeeding partially in stopping the blood rushing to his face… and other parts.

"It… it's fine… wasn't your fault." Mimi said, briefly allowing her lips above the water to do so before re-submerging herself. ' _There is no way this can get any more embarrassing,'_ She thought as she used her hands to slowly wash the mud out of her hair.

"Mimi! We're here to… Oh my god! Sorry!" She was wrong.

Tai, Izzy, and Sora charged into the room with their digimon ready to save the day, only to end up gaping in surprise at the sight they were met with. Tai had been the one to speak, his hands quickly going up to his face to both block himself from seeing anymore and to protect himself as a screaming Mimi hurled various bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and other such bathroom amenities at them. She continued to do so until the males in the room retreated after getting clonked across the head several times.

"Um, so… how did this end up happening?" Sora asked awkwardly, her and Biyomon glancing between Naruto, who'd mostly recovered from his embarrassment, and Mimi, who looked just seconds from trying to drown herself just to end said embarrassment.

"Those stupid fuzz-balls outside stole our clothes before tossing us in here." Naruto told them, glancing at the still embarrassed Mimi and making a hand-sign for some reason. "Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)!" He said as he was suddenly engulfed in a puff of smoke. When it cleared though, Mimi nearly did drown as her, Sora's, and Biyomon's jaws hung wide open.

Instead of the blonde haired whiskered face boy that was there literally a second ago, an equally blonde whisker faced girl sat in his spot with a wide smile. "Is this better Mimi?" She asked in softer, feminine toned version of Naruto's voice, "I figured you'd be more comfortable with me like this."

Mimi popped her head out of the water coughing and sputtering for a few seconds before focusing her attention on the new girl. "N-N-N-Naruto?" She asked shakily, getting a nod in conformation.

"Yep, so what do you think?" She (Naruto will be referred to as she while like this) asked while doing various poses, her new 'assets' jiggling dramatically. Naruto's hair was also much longer and set in two pigtails that sloshed in the water. Even the fur on her arms and tail seemed thinner, smoother, and glossier, but that could have just been the water soaking them.

"You can turn into a girl." Sora stated with a dumbfounded expression, continuing to stare for several moments before shaking her head clear. "Just when I think this place can't get any weirder." She said with a tired sigh, getting a laugh from the transformed blonde.

"Ah, don't be mean Sora-chan," Naruto said with a mock pout before a wide grin crossed her lips, "You're just jealous that my girls are bigger than yours now." She emphasized this by wiggling her chest slightly making the globes of flesh there jiggle even more.

Sora squawked at that, a small blush crossing her face as she rambled out denials until she heard Naruto's boisterous laughter. Realizing that she had just been screwing with her, Sora grumbled sourly before leaving with Biyomon. "Hey! Don't forget to find our clothes please!" Naruto called after her.

Once she was gone, Naruto settled back in the water, a contemplative look on her face before another wicked smile cropped up. "Hehe, that just gave me an idea."

-Half an hour later-

"I wonder what's taking them so long, Sora went to bring their clothes up ten minutes ago." Tai wondered as he and the others minus Sora, Mimi, and Naruto enjoyed the food the Pagumon served them. The reason it took so long to get the clothes to them was due to the act they had to be washed first.

"Girls always take forever to get ready, Naruto's probably just being nice and waiting for Mimi to finish before coming back down himself." Matt stated, getting a few nods of agreement from Tai, Joe, and Izzy. It did sound like something Naruto would do.

"You know, some girls might find what you just said extremely offensive." An unknown feminine voice said, making the group jump in surprise and look towards the source. There by the doorway, stood a now fully dressed Naruto with a teasing grin, still in her Oiroke form with Mimi and Sora behind her.

Just like said two girls and Biyomon, as soon as their eyes landed on the now female blonde, everyone's jaw dropped in shock as they gawked at her in shock. "What's up guys, what'cha staring at?" Naruto asked casually, acting like there was nothing wrong.

"…"

"N-Naruto?" Tai finally managed to ask after a long, stunned silence.

"Well duh, who'd else would I be?" Naruto asked rhetorically as she sat herself down by a plate of food and started chowing down. After yet another long silence though, she could no longer keep a straight face and fell over laughing. "Oh my Kami! The looks on your guys faces is priceless!" She yelled, falling onto her back as she was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Once it cleared, it showed that Naruto had reverted to normal as HE continued to laugh his ass off.

So into their shock, most of them barely even noticed as Poyomon digivolved into Tokomon in T.K.'s arms.

It was actually T.K. himself who snapped out of his stupor first, rushing over to where Naruto laid and started asking him how he just did that. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang slowly calmed down, Tai, Izzy, and Joe joining the youngest with his interrogation while Matt just sighed in exasperation as Naruto told them all 'The history of the Oiroke no Jutsu'.

When he was finished, and after they had a brief celebration for Tokomon's digivolving, the sun had vanished beneath the horizon and the group agreed to call it a night. Thankfully, Mimi was still much too tired to consider avoiding sleep and had already drifted off… that or she passed out due to Naruto's close proximity, no one was sure which.

Still somewhat suspicious of the Pagumon however, especially since Agumon kept insisting he could smell the lingering scent of Koromon all over the place, Naruto managed to convince the others that one of them should stay up to keep watch. Unfortunately, the person they chose to keep watch, Matt, ended up dosing off himself halfway through his shift, just as several Pagumon hopped into the room with sinister smiles.

-Morning-

"Tokomon! Tokomon! Where are you!" T.K. hollered as he rushed around the village, the rest of the digidestined not far behind. The small in-training digimon had vanished while everyone was sleeping and now they were all out looking for the little guy.

In order to find him faster, Izzy had them divide up in to groups. Matt, T.K., Tai, Agumon, and Gabumon were taking the west half of the village, Sora, Izzy, Joe, Mimi, Gomamon, Tentomon, and Palmon searched the east. Finally, Naruto was on top of the main building with Biyomon high in the sky getting a birds-eye view of the entire area. The blonde fox boy was also tempted to make a few clones to help search but decided to conserve his strength for now.

"I don't see him anywhere," Biyomon said tiredly as she fluttered down next to Naruto.

"I've got nothing either," Naruto said back while still carefully examining the area. "I think Agumon has something though, he's going off on his own." He pointed to the yellow lizard as he split from his group without anyone noticing and wandered off into the forest.

"Do you think he saw Tokomon?" Biyomon asked getting a shrug in response.

"Possibly, I'll go check it out. You tell the others where I went."

"No problem… right after a little breather." Biyomon said as she plopped down on her rear. Naruto just nodded in confirmation before tensing his legs and jumping high onto the air, clearing the entire village in one leap and landing in one of the trees. Then with a bit of tree hopping, he swiftly caught up with Agumon and landed next to him, causing the lizard digimon to jump in surprise.

"Yikes! You really can get the jump on someone Naruto." He said, making the blonde laugh lightly at the wording.

"Yeah, I guess I can." Naruto said with a smirk before quickly becoming serious, "I wanted to see why you were all the way out here. Did you see our missing buddy?"

"No, but I swear I can smell Tokomon and Koromons around here. And my nose is never wrong." Agumon said as he went back to sniffing the area.

"What about that time with the food at Devimon's mansion trap?"

"… … … …Almost never wrong." Naruto chuckled again at his friend's quiet response before playfully flicking him on the forehead.

"Next time don't go wandering off by yourself, last thing anyone needs in for you to go missing as well." He said, causing Agumon to look at him sheepishly. "Good thing I told Biyomon which way we were going anyway so the others should be just behind us, so lead the way."

"Got it," Agumon said as he took several more sniffs, "This way!"

With the excited dino digimon leading the way, the duo eventually arrived at a river with a moderately sized waterfall where Agumon suddenly lost the scent. While he struggled to find it again, Naruto paced around the shoreline looking for anything unusual.

This paid off as he found several dozen round impressions and some claw marks left in the soft earth and sand. "Agumon, over here! I think I got something!" Naruto called as he followed the trail to the side of the waterfall, where he and Agumon discovered a hidden cave… A hidden cave with Tokomon tied up inside a cage along with dozens of caged up round pink digimon with large red eyes that Naruto assumed to be Koromon.

"Tokomon! What happened to you?" Agumon asked as he and Naruto wrenched the cage open and freed the little digimon.

"The Pagumon captured me and threw me in here! Their working for Gazimon!"

"That's right," An unknown voice said behind them, making Naruto and Agumon turn around to see two large rabbit digimon with grey fur and long black claws. "And with their help we'll serve those little human freaks to Master Etamon on a silver platter." The one on the left said.

"Unfortunately, you now know too much," The right one added, "So we'll just have to dispose of you." He said while holding his claws up menacingly.

Naruto looked at the two digimon with a blank expression, his body slowly turning to face them properly. "So, let me get this straight, you kidnapped my friend…" He takes a step forward, "…are planning to hurt both him and my other friends…" He raises ups his hands and cracks his knuckles, "…and now intend to kill us so we can't warn them?"

"Uh duh, that's what we just said moron," The right Gazimon said.

"Oh good, then I won't feel bad about this next part." Naruto said as he held his hand up in his favorite hand sign. *Poof*

-With the Others-

"Are you sure this is the way they went?" Tai asked Biyomon as he and the rest of the digidestined arrived at the waterfall.

"Mostly," The pink bird said sheepishly. It had taken her awhile to gather everyone and they had gotten a little sidetracked when Mimi had found a Botamon, the newly hatched form of a Koromon. This in turn revealed that the Pagumon had been lying about the village being theirs and the little buggers had made a quick retreat.

"Okay, everyone split up and start loo-"

"OH GOD PLEASE NO!"

"UNCLE! UNCLE! UNCLE!"

"…Or someone will cut me off again and conveniently reveal which way we should go." Tai said in a deadpan as the group turned to the waterfall just as two beat up Gazimon came flying through the torrent of water and off into the distance.

"AND DON'T COME BACK ASSHOLES!" Naruto yelled as he stepped out from behind said waterfall followed by Agumon, Tokomon, and dozens of Koromon. Upon noticing his audience, Naruto smiled while giving a wave. "Hey guys, what took you so long?"

Before anyone could respond, a giant hologram of an orange monkey holding a microphone and a Monzaemon doll attached to his hip. "Hello! You measly little digidestined humans! Hello!"

-End Chapter-

AN: Etamon makes his appearance. Poor Mimi and Naruto see a lot more than they ever thought of the other. For those who think Naruto got over his own embarrassment too fast A. He has bathed with the opposite gender before at a hotspring and B. It's Naruto, the inventor of the Oiroke no Jutsu, the new Oiroke no Jutsu, and the Haremu no Jutsu.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 20-

-Last Time-

 _"Okay, everyone split up and start loo-"_

 _"OH GOD PLEASE NO!"_

 _"UNCLE! UNCLE! UNCLE!"_

 _"…Or someone will cut me off again and conveniently reveal which way we should go." Tai said in a deadpan as the group turned to the waterfall just as two beat up Gazimon came flying through the torrent of water and off into the distance._

 _"AND DON'T COME BACK ASSHOLES!" Naruto yelled as he stepped out from behind said waterfall followed by Agumon, Tokomon, and dozens of Koromon. Upon noticing his audience, Naruto smiled while giving a wave. "Hey guys, what took you so long?"_

 _Before anyone could respond, a giant hologram of an orange monkey holding a microphone and a Monzaemon doll attached to his hip. "Hello! You measly little digidestined humans! Hello!"_

-And Now-

"Oh no, it's Etemon!" The Koromon screamed in horror before retreating back into the cave they'd been caged in.

"You little brats messed up all my beautiful, carefully laid plans," The now named Etemon said while the hologram lifted up a purple and black electric guitar. "So I need to punish you all by playing a little number I just wrote called Wrecking the Whole Place!" He declared while fiddling with the tuning pegs.

"Wreaking the whole place?" Tai repeated in confused shock.

"Do you think he can really do that?" Izzy asked but nobody bothered to answer him.

~BWAAAARE!~ "Dark Network Concert Crush!" The ground shook violently following Etemon's shout, the earth suddenly cracking open to reveal a web of dark black cords that rapidly rose up into the air.

"Shit! Get to cover!" Naruto yelled as bolts of reddish-black electricity shot down from the cords and blasted apart random chunks of the forest and town while narrowly missing the exposed group. This knocked the kids and their digimon out of their stupor and they started booking it towards the cave.

Not one to just stand by and do nothing, the foxy blond created several Kage Bunshin that rushed out and leapt in the way of any incoming blasts until they all made it to safety. "Thanks for the help Naruto," Tai said before pulling out his digivice, "Now let's get on the offensive, time to digivolve guys."

"Took the words out of my mouth." Naruto said as he started to glow. " _Kitsumon digivolve to… Teumesemon!"_

" _Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"_

" _Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon!"_

" _Tentom-"_

"Oh, you say you want some digivolution huh? Well the answer is NOOOOO~! Dark Network Concert Crush!" Etemon yelled with another loud strum of his guitar, causing a massive wave of dark energy to wash over the area.

When it collided with them, Greymon and Garurumon suddenly devolved back into their rookie forms while the rest stopped digivolving all together. The only one not affected was Naruto, though if you looked closely you could see a slight grimace on his face while one of his hands started to rise up to his chest before he stopped it. "Oh yeah, Dark Network! Ha Ha oh gotcha!"

"What just happened?!" Tai asked in shock.

"Concert Crush took our power somehow." Agumon said as he and the other digimon hurried back into their respective partner's side.

"Does rock and roll have that affect your world?" Tentomon asked.

Sora was about to respond, most likely with a witty quip, but was cut off when one of Naruto's tails smacked her back just as a stray jolt scorched the place she was standing. "Now's not the time for chatter!" He said with a serious expression, "Either figure out how to fix it or a way out of here while I keep him busy!" He said before running back out into the open.

Tree-hopping as high as he could and putting a fair distance between him and the others, Naruto flared his tails out like a peacock. ' _Hopefully he takes the bait,'_ He thought as the flames on his tail-tips doubled in size before a multitude of fireballs were launched from them into the sky.

"Oh ho ho, I got those little brats trapped nice and good~!" Etemon said with wicked grin from atop a train car that had his face emblazoned across the front. Beside him, a Gazimon who was operating the hologram projector was nodding along in agreement before he spotted something in the corner of his vision.

Getting a better look, his eyes widened before he quickly turned to his master. "Uh sir… you might want to take a look at th-GAH!" HE was cut off mid-sentence with a harsh punch that knocked him clean through the machine he was manning and off into the distance.

"How many times have I told you morons not to interrupt me during my victorious moments?!" Etemon yelled in irritation, ignoring the fact his underling clearly couldn't hear him. "I was just about to give them some false hope by saying they wouldn't be hurt if they surrendered peacefully and all that jazz, now I'll have to think of something… What the heck!?" Etemon exclaimed as he finally noticed the shower of blue fire that was torching his precious dark network.

Instead of getting angry though, he ginned widely for some reason while cracking his knuckles. "So, some little upstart wants to challenge me on my own turf. Well then, why don't I go show them why I am the big boss around these parts?" Etemon asked himself rhetorically as he climbed off his cart and ran off in the fires direction, completely forgetting about what he had just been doing in his eagerness for a fight.

Naruto stopped what he was doing once the hologram vanished in a burst of static and he saw a Gazimon go flying off with a pained cry. Standing on his perch silently, he didn't have to wait long before Etemon came bursting through the foliage below. "Oh ho, there you are!" The monkey digimon called, looking Naruto over thoroughly with an intrigued gleam in his eye. "Well what do ya know, I ain't ever seen a mon like you before. You must be a new one around the block. Am I right my man?"

"You could say that, names Teumesemon and this here is my turf now." Naruto said, putting up a front of casually disgruntlement. "So, you mind telling me why your wrecking my property?"

"Hahahahaha! That's one heck of a sense of humor you got there my amigo, but I guess I'll humor you for a bit. I'm Etemon, king of digimon, and last I checked this little backwater area was in my domain." Etemon said, holding his sides slightly from his laughter until he managed to calm down. "However, I am also a rather reasonable mon. You want this here plot of land, you can have it… if you can pry it from my cold dead hands." He stated with a wide grin.

"Interesting proposition you have," Naruto said while cracking his neck. ' _Perfect, he bought my bluff.'_ Naruto had figured that with how Etemon had addressed the group earlier, he knew about the digidestined somehow, likely from the legend Leomon told them about. However… since the foxy blond wasn't technically one of them, he'd gambled that the rock-star wannabe wouldn't know a thing about him, which thanks to his devil's luck turned out to be true. Instead, he thought Naruto was just some random digimon trying to muscle in on his territory, which the blonde hadn't been expecting on but could work with. "You got yourself a deal."

(Insert preferred battle music)

As soon as the words left his mouth, both he and Etemon exploded into action simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, they met mid-air and their fists collided with a deafening boom and a visible shockwave that blasted away everything within a large radius.

This was followed by many other as the duo exchanged a plethora of punches and kicks at a blindingly fast pace. The duo appeared to be on even ground with each-other and destined for a stalemate when Naruto suddenly changed tactics, when Etemon went for a sweeping side kick the blond allowed it to hit. Wincing as from what felt like an elephant crashing into his side, he quickly surprised the monkey digimon by grabbing onto the extended limb and spinning around like a top.

"Whoa! Whoa! Let! Me! Go! I'm! Gonna! Hurl!" Etemon yelled with a green face before screaming when Naruto complied and he ended up being smashed face first into the round below. This ended with the digimon buried into the ground up to his waist while his feet kicked in the air comically.

"Kitsune no sōgi!" Naruto called as he also dropped from the air and slammed his tails into his opponent, pushing Etemon even deeper into digital earth so that only the tips of his toes stuck out. He didn't get much time to celebrate the small victory though before being forced to jump away as the entire area suddenly exploded.

When the dust cleared, it revealed Etemon standing inside a decent sized crater with barely a scratch. "Well, well, well, I must admit, I actually felt that one, uh huh." He said with a smirk while dusting off a bit of dirt on his shoulder. "However, now it is my turn. Dark Network!" Naruto leapt out of the way as a large spear of dark energy was launched at him, obliterating the ground he was just standing on.

Unfortunately, this left him wide open for the straight punch to his stomach and the following kick to his chest that sent him crashing through several trees until he managed to catch himself. Just in the nick of time to as he just managed to deflect another punch, this one aimed at his head.

Using the brief gap in Etemon's defenses to his advantage, Naruto quickly formed a familiar ball of swirling blue energy. "Seirei-en Rasengan!" He yelled, smashing the sphere into the orange monkey's torso.

"Dark Network!" Unfortunately, Etemon wasn't completely helpless as he managed to form a small ball of dark energy and smash it into Naruto's chest just as both attacks exploded, sending them flying off in opposite directions.

(End fight music)

Naruto found his own flight cut short when he collided right into Etemon's train car, embedding himself several inches into its metal surface. "Owwwwwwww… okay, not my brightest move there." Naruto groaned as he slowly pried himself free and landed back on the ground in a crouch. Cracking his back with an audible sigh, he straightened out his tails and was about to charge right back into the fight when he paused when he caught sight of something odd.

"What… the… hell?" He said while raising his arms up. The vibrant blue flames around his hands now had a sickly purple mixed into them while pitch black streaks now stained the normally pristine white fur around his lower arms. Naruto didn't have long to ponder on this however as he glowed brightly and reverted to his Kitsumon form, with his arms back to normal.

"Kuso, I don't have time for this. I hope the others figured a way out of this mess by now." Naruto thought aloud as he ran back towards the waterfall, just missing Etemon appearing with an annoyed expression as he held his mildly burned stomach.

"Where'd the hell do you think you're going? We aren't finished yet." He grumbled before freezing when he spotted the large indent in his ride. "Ah, son of a Monochromon! Look what you did to my wheels! That's gonna take forever to buff o-"

*CRACK* "Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: …" A second Naruto burst out of the ground directly beneath Etemon with his hands held in a tiger seal and covered with chakra while the one Etemon was just yelling at disappeared in a puff of smoke. "…SENNEN GOROSHI!"

In that moment, the whole world seemed to come to a standstill, with the only sound being the almost silent scream Etemon was giving as his face contorted to one of pure agony and embarrassment. All of this was thanks to Naruto… whom currently had his fingers jabbed straight into the orange monkey's ass.

-With the others-

"Naruto's been gone for too long, we should go help him." Tai said as he started marching towards the exit of the cave only for Matt to grab his arm.

"And do what exactly? In case you've forgotten our digimon are currently powerless and we aren't exactly fighters ourselves." He said, trying to reason with the goggle wearing boy.

"Matt's right, the most logical thing we can do right now is wait and have faith that Naruto can take care of himself. We are talking about the guy who mostly shrugged off being repeatedly smashed into a mountainside after all." Izzy added in.

"I know that, but still…" Tai trailed off with a sigh, before he and everyone froze up when a blood-curdling scream filled the air. Everyone remained completely still as they processed the sound.

"Oh god, was that Naruto?" Mimi, being the first to snap out of her stupor, asked while she cupped her hands over her mouth.

"That's it, Agumon lets-" *Splash*

Tai was cut off mid-sentence as a familiar figure came flying through the waterfall and skidded to a stop before them. "For the love of Kami, please tell me you guys have a plan to get us out of this mess, because I'm pretty sure I just pissed that guy off… a lot." Naruto stated while wringing the water out of his tail.

-End Chapter-

AN: I apologize for the short and rushed looking chapter. I am really far behind schedule cause I lost the original drafts to several chapters thanks to my campus evacuating from the fires, and am still trying to catch up with all the lost work. Now, for those confused on the 'finish' of Etemon's fight with Naruto, during the fight Naruto discreetly made a clone that buried itself and then Naruto switched with it using Kawarimi. Using the Sennen Goroshi on Etemon was suggested to me by PM and I say thanks to the person who gave me the idea. And for those saying he wouldn't act like that, have you seen Etemon? He would probably fall for the 'oh shiny!' trick. Thank you for reading and please review.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon series. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like this story, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 21-

-Last Time-

 _"I know that, but still…" Tai trailed off with a sigh, before he and everyone froze up when a blood-curdling scream filled the air. Everyone remained completely still as they processed the sound._

 _"Oh god, was that Naruto?" Mimi, being the first to snap out of her stupor, asked while she cupped her hands over her mouth._

 _"That's it, Agumon lets-" *Splash*_

 _Tai was cut off mid-sentence as a familiar figure came flying through the waterfall and skidded to a stop before them. "For the love of Kami, please tell me you guys have a plan to get us out of this mess, because I'm pretty sure I just pissed that guy off… a lot." Naruto stated while wringing the water out of his tail._

-And Now-

"Why do I always end up acting as a living torch?" Naruto deadpanned, still in his Kitsumon form with his fist held high and alit with blue flame as he, the rest of the group, and the Koromon ventured down the dark tunnel they were in. Turned out after he left to distract Etemon, the Koromon had revealed a secret exit at the back of the cavern they were hiding inside but the others had waited for him to return before using it.

"Because none of us can light ourselves on fire without dying, and you're too nice a guy to say no." Gomamon said with a cheeky grin, before yelping when Naruto lazily flicked a pea-sized fireball at him with his free hand. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Oops," Naruto said, a false look of innocence plastered on his face as he continued to lead the way… until they reached a dead end. "Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't escape tunnels usually have, you know an exit?" He asked sarcastically as the group stared at the wall in front of them. It was completely flat, made of a dull orange stone, and had the image of a sun carved into the middle of it.

"This is most strange, our village has used this tunnel for decades to escape whenever danger came. It should lead all the way to the other side of the mountain." The lead Koromon said in genuine confusion. "Though admittedly it has been many years since we've had to use it, I don't remember this being here."

"Hmm, perhaps it is merely a concealed door meant to trick trespassers and we just…" Izzy started to theorize only to trail off as the wall started to glow a bright orange, swiftly followed by the rest of the tunnel.

"W-what's going on?" Mimi asked, practically teleporting to Naruto's side and holding his arm tightly in fear.

"Everybody stay close together, watch you backs." Tai said, making everyone huddle together with the digimon and Naruto forming a protective circle around the kids and the Koromon. However, instead of being attacked or such, the glowing simply died back down as the wall with the sun turned bright orange and shrunk to about two inches big, allowing sunlight to stream in from the opening revealed behind it.

Everyone's attention was then drawn to Tai as an orange glow started emitting from inside his shirt before his tag slowly rose out of his shirt. The small tablet then floated over to the goggle wearing boy and slid into the tag.

"Well, I guess that means we're up one crest." Tai said, grinning widely as he held his tag and crest up to eye level. "Now I can get you to digivolve even further Agumon!" Agumon responded with a cheer as both he and his partner started jumping around in excitement.

"Uh, not to interrupt your little celebration, but could someone please tell me where we are?" Joe asked, while pointing to the outside of the tunnel. This finally got everyone to notice how the mountainous forests they had just been in before had been replaced with hilly grasslands with sparse forests.

"The crest must have brought us here, these hills are a long way from our village." The lead Koromon said, the rest of the small pink blobs murmuring in agreement.

"That's great, that means we have a good distance between us and Etemon." Tai said, taking the lead as he and Agumon hurried outside. "Let's make it count and see if we can find more of the crests." He declared getting cheers of agreement from everyone else but Naruto.

Said foxy blonde instead was staring at a thick black cord that sat on the ground pulsing a light purple every few seconds. He did not like the feel the seemingly innocuous object gave him, his gut telling him that it was absolutely no good, and was just about to blast whatever it was into oblivion when…

"Let's get going then gang, at this rate nothing can possibly get in our way." Tai said, getting another round of agreement from the others.

Naruto froze as soon as he heard the words leave Tai's lips, his entire body going ridged and his tail sticking straight up with the fur on end.

-Several Miles Away-

"Hmm, if that isn't an open invite to cause trouble, then I don't know what is." Kitsunemon said aloud as he set his binoculars back down and laid back into his new hammock. "Don't you agree Aidmon?"

"I certainly do master," A soft feminine voice said as a small doll digimon walked in with a tray laden with various snacks and beverages. Aidmon looked like a chibi mummy nurse with the majority of her small body covered in bandages, a single button eye visible, and a pair of oversized pink lips that were set into a bright smile as she held the tray up for the large fox-man. "The real question is, what trouble shall you cause?"

These words made Kitsunemon smirk darkly as he grabbed one of the offered drinks and casually sipped from it. "I knew keeping you around was a good idea." He had found the small digimon on a tiny island she'd been shipwrecked on for several weeks while he was following after his former jailor. Extremely thankful for the rescue and just a touch crazy from prolonged isolation, Aidmon had pledged herself as his servant in return for him saving her.

Without getting up, the digitalized Biju spread his tails out in a similar fashion to a peacock before promptly stabbing them into the ground… and the sky? Pulses of familiar red data then flowed from the long limbs into the area.

Within seconds the sky began to darken as clouds began to rapidly form, ice began to spread shoot across the ground towards the children, and a heavy chill started settling into the area. "I think these kids could use some _cooling off._ " Kitsunemon said mockingly as a few snowflakes slowly flitted to the ground around him.

-Back with the Digidestined-

"Just so you know, I blame you." Naruto told Tai blankly, ignoring his indignant squawk in favor of the massive storm seemingly appear out of thin air and head towards them while dropping out a veritable waterfall of snow as it went.

"We should head back in the tunnel and take shelter until it passes," Izzy said as he slowly backed up. "The odds of us surviving long in the open is less than five percent." His point was emphasized when the edge of the clouds already reached them and snow started to lightly fall seconds later.

"Uh, maybe you should tell that to them." Sora said, pointing to the Koromon who were hopping off in the opposite direction of the storm at a surprising speed.

"I'll go get them." Agumon and Gabumon said at the same time, looking at each-other in surprise before shrugging it off and heading off together.

"Alright, then the rest of us better get some firewood and such while we can," Tai said, rubbing his arms slightly as the air rapidly grew colder. "We're definitely going to need it."

"We should also do something to block the entrance, so the snow doesn't get in." Joe added in.

"That's a good idea," Tai agreed, rubbing his chin for a moment in thought before turning to our resident foxy blonde. "Naruto, can you and Biyomon take of that?" The two responded with a thumbs-up and cheery "No problem!" respectfully before heading off to the treeline to get the materials needed.

"Alright, now let's get some firewoo-" *Boom!* Tai was cut off as an explosion rang out, followed by the groaning of wood and a cry of "TIMBER!" as a large tree fell to the ground.

"Not very subtle that one." Gomamon said in a fake wise voice, even going as far as to stroke an imaginary beard before breaking out in laughter.

"…lets just get the firewood already." Tai said blankly.

-10 minutes later-

"HEAVE!" Naruto yelled over the roar of the storm as he, a few clones, the digidestined, and their digimon pulled on a pair of ropes to lift a makeshift wall made of logs and more rope over the tunnel entrance with all their strength. A task made exceedingly more difficult as harsh winds chilled them all to the bone and heavy snowfall threatened to bury the wooden barrier.

Thankfully though, they just managed to heft it into place after one last pull, almost completely cutting off all light in the room. This was quickly resolved as well when Naruto ignited his hand again and filled the chamber with a soft blue light. "Well… that was fun." He stated sarcastically while walking over to a newly made unlit campfire and stuck his burning hand straight into the kindling.

In less than five seconds, the whole thing was burning brightly and everyone was huddling around it for warmth, each wrapped up with several blankets Naruto had unsealed. Drawing his hand back, Naruto hissed slightly as he felt several minor burns sting his fur covered appendage. ' _Note to self, only immune to my own fire.'_ He thought while sitting down himself with a tired sigh. His fight with Etemon, combined with the constant use of his spirit flames in his Kitsumon form and Kage Bunshin, had left very tired.

Since they were encamped for the moment and likely not going anywhere for a while, Naruto decided to test an idea of his and after taking a few deep breaths began actively trying to suppress his chakra levels. He figured that if flaring his chakra caused him to digivolve higher, then by suppressing it he should de-digivolve back into his lower forms. His theory was swiftly proven to be true as with a bright glow Naruto shrunk down to his ChibiNarutomon form.

Naturally however, the instant a certain brunette noticed this change, Naruto found himself swiftly scooped up into Mimi's arms and held tightly to the shivering girl's chest. Instead of struggling or complaining though, the chibi blonde simply got as comfortable as he could in her grasp. So tired was he, Naruto barely even registered that his head, the only part of him currently visible, was resting against the pink loving girl's developing chest as he slipped into slumber.

"Man, he's sure tuckered out, isn't he?" Sora said, a small giggle escaping her lips as Mimi started gently stroking the sleeping blonde's head between his fox ears, causing a soft rumbling to echo from his chest.

"It's not surprising, he has been doing most of the heavy lifting for us both figuratively and literally." Matt glanced at the large wooden barrier they had just erected then to the stack of different non-perishable foods and drinks Naruto had unsealed along with the blankets they were currently using to keep warm.

"No kidding, god only knows how much trouble we would be in right now if it wasn't for him." Joe added, getting everyone to think back on all the chaotic events that had happened over the last few weeks.

-Insert Calming and/or Sad Music-

Mimi moved her hand from Naruto's head and rubbed her upper arm instead, her fingers running over the unnaturally smooth and rubberish feeling scar tissue. She then slowly migrated up to her throat, a shiver running through her body that had nothing to do with the cold as a phantom sensation of being choked briefly ran through her. Shaking the thought off, she hugged Naruto just a little tighter while Palmon rubbed her back comfortingly.

Izzy, Joe, and Sora were remembering the fight with Andromon, and how they likely wouldn't have made it out of there mostly unscathed if it wasn't for Naruto distracting Andromon long enough for them to regroup and figure out how to beat the cyborg digimon. Despite the fact he was probably feeling the sickest and most nauseated in his life, he hadn't hesitated to through himself in peril in order to protect them. Sora couldn't help but stare at her hands, the multitude of long skinny scars being thrown into stark contrast by the flickering light of the flames.

Similar thoughts ran through all of the groups heads as the time slowly crawled by. Such as when they first met and he had leapt out to help Matt when Seadramon was squeezing him. There was the time they had first run into Ogremon and a possessed Leomon and Naruto forced himself to stay digivolved so to keep them safe.

Of course, not all these memories were bad, such as when Naruto built a shower so they could all could be clean, or when he gave up his personal supply of ramen so they could all have a decent meal.

…

…

"…this is really happening, isn't it?" Matt stated more than asked, not getting a response as the reality of everything finally started to hit the kids, except Mimi who was already VERY aware thanks to a certain dark fox digimon. With how fast paced everything had been, none of them had any time to truly comprehend exactly what they had gone through. Even when they were crossing the sea on both the raft and Whamon, they had plenty of things to keep themselves occupied.

Now however, trapped inside a cave by a blizzard as they basked in the warmth of the fire, there was finally nothing stopping them from actually thinking over their current situation. Joe gripped his shoulder, remembering how it had almost been dislocated when he was bucked off of on Unimon's back. Izzy's fingers traced over the top of his closed laptop, feeling all the dents and scratches it had gotten from him falling and getting knocked around.

Tai was doing the same only with his pocket telescope, a grimace crossing his face as he saw the slightly cracked lens on the front end. T.K. was remembering how Tokomon had basically sacrificed himself as Angemon when fighting Devimon while he huddled closer to Matt, who wrapped an arm over his little brother's shoulders.

It was to these thoughts that each of the kids and digimon slipped into slumber one by one until only Mimi was left awake. Staring into the fire, the flames reflected in her drooping eyes as she stroked Naruto's head again. "…Thank you," She whispered into his ear, causing it to twitch slightly as she moved her hand and rested her chin atop his head while allowing her eyes to close. "Thank you for everything."

-End Chapter-

AN: Not a very eventful chapter, but I felt it was needed since as said in the chapter, these kids needed a moment to get a reality check. Think about it, they've been basically kidnapped to another world, constantly being attacked by giant monsters, and in my version recovering from a multitude of injuries and very close near death encounters. That kind of trauma and stress isn't really something you can just shrug off easily especially for kids, shown in season 2 when T.K. has a small meltdown when he sees Devimon in the dark pit. Sure there are a few small moments where the kids reflect on this sort of thing, them talking about homesickness and such, but I personally think that it would be a lot harder on them than that.

As for Kyuubi 'hacking' the world and causing the blizzard, it is possible for a digimon to do something like that, with the dark masters doing basically the same thing on a much larger scale when they remake the digi-world into spiral mountain. Thank you for reading and please review.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 22-

-Last Time-

 _It was to these thoughts that each of the kids and digimon slipped into slumber one by one until only Mimi was left awake. Staring into the fire, the flames reflected in her drooping eyes as she stroked Naruto's head again. "…Thank you," She whispered into his ear, causing it to twitch slightly as she moved her hand and rested her chin atop his head while allowing her eyes to close. "Thank you for everything."_

-And Now-

Naruto slowly sat up with a yawn as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his chibi-sized fists. A little more awake now, he proceeded to carefully wiggle his way out of Mimi's grip and slip out of the blanket they were sharing. Shivering slightly as the cold washed over him, he carefully navigated around everyone's sleeping forms as he made his way to the burnt-out pit where after a quick digivolution to his base form restocked the smoldering pile into a decent flame.

While he was doing so, the others slowly started to stir and wake up starting with Mimi herself as she shivered slightly from the loss of warmth that she was holding. Slowly getting up, she groggily looked around the cavern before spotting her target by the rebuilt fire stirring the contents of a small pot on a makeshift cooking rack. With her teeth already starting to chatter, the pink loving girl stumbled over to him and hesitantly snuggled into his side for warmth much to the blonde's surprise.

"M-morning Naruto," She mumbled with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Oh, morning Mimi, I hope you like canned hash." He said while holding a spoonful up for her to taste that she happily accepted. "How is it?"

"Bit salty, but otherwise fine. Could use a little syrup though." She said with a thoughtful look before snagging the spoon from him and scooping herself up another mouthful.

"Oh, like this?" Naruto asked with a silly grin as he held up a small bottle of brownish amber liquid with a picture of a maple leaf on it. For a brief moment, Naruto could have sworn he could see stars in the girl's eyes as she grabbed the maple syrup and popped it open. Pouring its contents over the spoon, she shoved the food into her mouth with a happy look.

"Oi! Save some for the rest of us, would ya." Tai said as he and the others slowly clustered around the fire. "You're not the only one who's hungry after all."

"Don't worry, I made enough to go around." Naruto replied as he pulled out his scroll and unsealed the plates Leomon had given them and started serving everyone up. Soon, they were all chowing away, a comfortable silence settling over them for several minutes before Joe decided to speak up.

"Look, I don't want to be 'that guy' and all, but we need to come up with a plan… and fast. That blizzard is still blowing outside, there's only enough wood to keep the fire going for a day at most, and last I checked we aren't exactly dressed up for winter weather." The bespectacled boy said with a frown, pulling at his shirt then pointing to the small gap in the barricade where the wind could still be heard howling for added emphasis.

This statement brought the cheery atmosphere in the room to a grinding halt as everyone stopped eating. "We could just wait it out." Tai suggested. "We have plenty of food and water, and besides it will probably be gone as fast as it came."

"That is possible, we have experienced stranger oddities when it comes to the weather in the digi-world so far." Izzy said as he pulled out his computer and had Tentomon power it with a weak 'Super Shocker' through the charger. "Naruto, would you mind?" The computer whiz asked the whiskered teen while holding up the same cord from when he scanned the blonde before.

"Uh sure, but what do you need that for?" Naruto asked, not even flinching as the small piece of metal sunk into the back of his hand.

"Simple really. By using the data components in your body, which I have the most understanding of thanks to my prior study on it, as an amplifying catalyst I should be able to indirectly interface with the ambient digital programing of the surrounding environment to accurately deduce just how long this anomalous weather will remain before dissipating." Izzy said as he typed a variety of commands into his computer at a rapid pace.

"…"

"…what?" Everyone asked at once.

*Sigh* "I'm using you as a way to plug into this world and see how long until the snow goes away. Thus finding out how long we'll have to hide in this hole before we can move out." He said in a dull tone, his eyes never leaving his screen while understanding dawned on his companions' faces as they peered over his shoulders. "Just give me a few more seconds and… done." Hitting the enter key, the screen changed from streams of code to a map of the area with a weather radar overlapping it. "… … …Oh boy, that's not good."

"Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means." Joe pleaded while pointing to a timer that sat in the top right corner of the screen.

"Unfortunately yes, that is how long it will be until the snow storm ends." Izzy said as everyone gazed at the ticking numbers in disbelief.

[01y:10M:26d:11h:37m:21s]

"Two years? It'll take almost two freaking years for the blizzard to end?!" Joe exclaimed.

"There goes waiting it out then." Sora muttered as she and the others plopped back down in their spots dejectedly. "What do we do now?"

"Well," Izzy started as he fiddled with the computer some more, "According to my readings the storm itself is completely stationary. With our given position, if we walk straight east, it would only be roughly a mile until we're clear." He said before raising his eyebrow when one of the windows on his screen started glitching. ' _Odd, what's causing that? Some kind of bug?'_

"Yeah, just a casual mile long stroll through blistering winds, sheets of falling snow, and freezing below zero temperatures." Matt said sarcastically. "Get real, we'd never make it halfway without getting lost and freezing to death."

"Oi! Stop being all negative Matt, we've gotten out of worse than this." Tai said, trying to bring up the moral a bit. "Besides, being pessimistic is Joe's job, and I think he's got it covered." He added while jabbing his thumb towards the hyperventilating boy while Gomamon tried to snap him out of it with a bland look.

"Okay then smart-aleck, what do you suggest? Going through that blizzard is suicide and waiting is out unless you want to freeze and/or starving to death." The 'cool kid' of the group demanded while getting up in the goggle-headed boy's face.

"We uh, we um…" Tai's bravado broke slightly as he struggled to come with an idea. Looking around the cavern for any kind of inspiration, his eyes settled on Gabumon who was in the far corner filling up a hole after erm… taking care of his business. "We go under it!" He declared.

"Say what now?" Gomamon asked with a raised eyebrow, his clawed flipper poised in the air while Joe's cheeks had a nice rosy tint to them.

"We dig a tunnel to travel through, that way we won't have to go out and face the blizzard." Tai said with a wide grin, getting everyone to mull it over.

"…it could work, but it would take us weeks to dig that far even if we had shovels, which I may remind you we don't." Izzy said before turning to Naruto. "Unless you happen to have some in that scroll of yours."

"Nope, but I may have something a bit better." The whiskered blonde said with a smirk.

-Two hours Later-

*CHHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZT*

The kids stood inside a perfectly round tunnel just wide enough for them to fit inside with some holding crude torches watching in awe as Naruto almost effortlessly drilled through the frozen dirt and rock using a familiar spiraling energy ball. At the same time, the digimon and a few of his clones were moving back and forth with armloads of dirt, either packing it back into the walls for support or moving it out of way.

After a minute or so though, the Rasengan dispersed in the blonde's hand and he sat down on a pile of dirt with a sigh while wiping the sweat off his brow. "How much farther do we need to go? This is starting to wear me out." Naruto said, catching a bottle of water that one of his clones threw towards him and quickly downing its contents.

"If my calculations are correct, about two thirds of the way there." Izzy stated, a look of concentration on his face as he tried to find the bug that had been messing with his computer. He had already gone through the primary coding and back up drive and hadn't found anything and had just started searching through the programing of his most recent actions.

He was broken from his thoughts however when a soft crackling noise reached his ears. Following the noise, Izzy and the others looked up just in time to see small cracks quickly spreading across the roof of the tunnel. "Crud, the tunnels starting to cave! We need to get out of here!" Tai said as he took a few steps back.

"No, those aren't stress cracks. They're to evenly spread out. Somethings burrowing in." Izzy said, his declaration was proven seconds later when several pairs of clawed paws made of ice burst through the earth, followed with the snarling faces of wolves with glowing red eyes brimming with malice. Clawing the rest of the way through, the icy beast fell to the floor with several heavy thumps and vicious growls as they immediately attacked, dispelling several of the clones that leapt in the way.

"W-w-what are those t-things?" Mimi asked, her body trembling violently as she hid behind Naruto.

"I don't know, I have never heard of this kind of digimon before. Super Shocker!" Tentomon said while blasting one of the wolves to pieces when it lunged at him.

At the same time, Naruto grabbed one by the jaws as it tried to bite his leg and promptly shattered it against the wall. "Well whatever they are, they definitely aren't friendly!"

"Oh really? And here I was thinking they were just stopping by for some tea and biscuits." Gomamon snarked, swiping at the wolves whenever they got to close for comfort.

"This is not the time for your quipping. Naruto keep drilling while we fend these things off." Sora said while she, the others, and the remaining clones aligned themselves like a barrier around the whiskered blonde.

"Not without giving you guys a hand first, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried out with his hands held in a cross shape. Several puffs of smoke appeared around them signaling the arrival of more clones while the original glowed brightly. " _Kitsumon digivolve to… Teumesemon!_ Seirei-en Rasengan! Seirei-en no Dangan!" With the added heat of his fox-fire, the destructive attack practically vaporized the ground it touched while his tails shot a barrage of miniature blue fireballs backwards at the ice wolves.

"Don't forget about us now! Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Spiral Twister!" 

"Super Shocker!"

"Poison Ivy!"

"Boom Bubble!"

"…I really need an attack that doesn't require bodies of water with fish nearby." Gomamon groaned as he watched his fellow digimon and one hybrid decimate the group of baddies, idly slicing the head of one into bits when it managed to slip through the absolute massacre. "These things aren't really that tough, are they?" He commented once the last one was reduced to rubble.

"Yeah, but they're definitely make up for it in numbers!" Joe said as dozens of the beasts clambered through the gradually widening holes while others continued to burst through the newly made ceiling.

"Well, you know what they say-Hiyah! Quality trumps quantity every time!" Tai quipped while bashing the head off of one of the wolves with his torch. "Ha! Take that you wannabe ice sculptu-AAGH!" Too focused on his boasting, Tai missed the second wolf coming up on his side until it savagely bit into his leg.

"Pepper Breath!" Thankfully Agumon was able to blast it off before it could rip a chunk out of his calf. "You okay Tai?"

"Y-yeah, it's j-just a scratch." The goggle-headed boy said between gritted teeth as he limped back with the others as Naruto continued to drill ahead.

"Just hold them off a bit longer, we're almost there!" Izzy called out.

"Easier, Spiral Twister! Said then done, Spiral Twister! They just keep coming, Spiral Twister!" Biyomon said between attacks, each shot taking out at least two baddies only four more to take their place.

"Naruto's not looking that hot either!" Gomamon added in, taking a sideways glance at the panting boy as the fireball coming from his tails steadily decreased in size. "Could the universe cut us some slack for once?" As soon as he spoke, the ceiling started cracking again in front of them, however instead of more ice wolves bursting out the tunnel itself suddenly caved in before them, cutting the wolves off from reaching them. "…Thank you universe!"

"And not a moment too soon, this should be it!" Izzy yelled towards Naruto while covering his ears, getting the blonde to nod before redirecting his flaming Rasengan upwards and allowed it to detonate with a deafening *Boom!*.

As the dust settled, a warm breeze drifted into the now exposed tunnel while sunlight streamed in, making the group cheer happily. Eager to get out of the hole, the kids and their digimon clambered up the sloped tunnel and emerged to find…

"…A freaking desert!? OH SCREW YOU UNIVERSE!"

-End Chapter-

AN: The Ice wolves are based on the Ice Wolfos from Twilight Princess. Sorry about the late update for this story, lost the original due to some saving errors. Thank you for reading and please review.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 23-

-Last Time-

 _As the dust settled, a warm breeze drifted into the now exposed tunnel while sunlight streamed in, making the group cheer happily. Eager to get out of the hole, the kids and their digimon clambered up the sloped tunnel and emerged to find…_

 _"…A freaking desert!? OH SCREW YOU UNIVERSE!"_

-And Now-

"This sucks." Gomamon grumbled as he waddled across the sandy terrain, occasionally stopping to spit out the sand that had gotten in his mouth thanks to him being so low to the ground while sweat poured from his brow.

"Quit complaining so much, it could be a lot worse." Gabumon said as he walked beside the seal digimon who snickered.

"Heh, I guess your right, I could be stuck in Naruto's position right now."

"I heard that!" Naruto yelled from the back of the group, his face bright red but not from the heat.

Given his previous… issues with deserts, Izzy had suggested Naruto shed some layers and carry a chunk of snow to keep him from overheating. At first, Naruto had no issue with this and quickly stripped down to his undies before rolling a giant snowball that he was currently carrying on his back. But, as is the apparent theme for his life, fate decided to put him in the most embarrassing and awkward position it possibly could. In this case, Mimi got embarrassed at the sight of Naruto in his underwear, tripped over a rock due to her distracted state, and somehow ended up face-planting against the whiskered blonde's barely covered groin.

Said girl was currently in the middle of the group with an equally crimson face as steam rose from her ears. Palmon and Sora were doing their best to help calm her down, but it didn't go over very well since all the plant digimon did was keep bringing it up while Sora was almost as flustered.

"How much farther does this desert go? We've been walking for hours." Matt groaned, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Don't worry, according to my readings there should a small oasis about half a kilometer ahead of us." Izzy said, his every trusty computer out and once again hooked up to Naruto. However, as he was typing away a few of the readouts starting fritzing out again. ' _Gah, that darn bug again! What the heck is causing it?'_

"That's good to hear, my talons are killing me," Biyomon said with a pout, standing directly behind Naruto so that the runoff from the melting ice would splash on her.

"Yeah, no kidding." Tai agreed, wincing slightly every time he had to use his bandaged leg.

"But where are we even going?" T.K. asked tiredly, his breathing slightly ragged.

"Yeah, why did we come out here in the first place? We could have just skirted alongside the blizzard area until we reached a place that wasn't a desert." Joe said before jugging down a bottle of water.

Izzy sighed in annoyance while rubbing his forehead. "I've explained this six times already. I recalibrated my computer to detect the residual data that Tai's crest gives off, thus allowing it to hopefully detect any others within forty kilometers and give us a general area where they are."

"Right, right, and you got a reading coming from this direction. Sorry, heats making it hard to think straight." Joe apologized with a sheepish smile.

"It's fine, just tired of repeating myself."

"Speaking of the crests, have you figured out how I get mine to work?" Tai asked, dangling the tag in front of his face as he stared at the crest held within.

"Nothing conclusive so far, but my best guess would be that it is triggered in the same way that our digimon's previous digivolutions were before." Izzy stated. "Us being in danger and with a lot of energy."

"That does make sense," Sora said, her face a little less red finally.

"Well luckily for us, Etemon will provide all the danger we need, now we just need the energy! Agumon, as soon as we reach that oasis it's chow time!" Tai called, getting a cheer from the lizard digimon.

-With Etemon-

"Ho ho! Where have those blasted kids gone?" The orange ape demanded as he watched two Gazimon type away at a large computer within his trailer.

"We're not sure master, that blizzard has caused the network to completely short out from sector K-9 all the way to M-4." Gazimon #1 said with Gazimon #2 nodding in agreement before both cried out from Etemon bashing their heads together.

"Ah drats, I knew I should have had those insulation covers installed!" He cried dramatically, completely ignoring the whimpering forms of his two underlings. "Ah, and now I'll have to divert ore of my minions to reinstall all that destroyed cable! This will set me back we-WAAH"

Etemon yelled in surprise when his trailer came to a sudden screeching halt, causing him to fall on top of the down Gazimon. Quickly recovering, the orange ape scrambled up to his feet and pulled a large lever that caused an entire side of the trailer to rise open to reveal the Monochromon that was normally hitched to the front was now several yards away unconscious and covered in bruises. "What in tarnation is going on out here?!"

"My apologies good sir," The soft voice of Aidmon said as she stepped out from behind the KO'd digimon with a large envelope in her arms. "I tried to flag you down nicely but your driver here just wouldn't listen. Would you happen to be Etemon the Fabulous Evil Musician?"

Buying into the flattery, Etemon smirked widely and puffed out his chest. "Why yes, yes I am. I see my reputation precedes me. Now how about you tell me why and how a little Aidmon like yourself was able to stop me, and you better make it snappy."

"Oh, the how isn't important right now," Aidmon waved off with a shrug, but if you looked closely you could just make out a slight residual sparkle of red energy inside her button eye. "As for the why, well that should be obvious. I'm here to deliver your fan mail of course!" She said with a mischievous grin while holding out the package.

Natural intrigued, Etemon started to reach out to take the parcel, before his common sense kicked in. "This seems a little off to me. How do I know that that little thing right there isn't some kind of trick and it'll explode the moment I open it or something, uh-huh?"

"Hmm, I know! How about I open it for you?" Aidmon offered.

Thinking about it for a moment, Etemon nodded his head in agreement. "Sounds alright."

Smiling widely, the small nurse digimon tore the top of the envelope open and reached inside before pulling out a piece of paper and a small red crystal and handing them over. Cautiously accepting them, Etemon looked at the crystal curiously before dismissing it and turning his attention to the paper or more specifically the writing on it.

As his sunglasses covered eyes went down the page, a large wicked grin covered his face as he laughed darkly, not even noticing as Aidmon vanished from sight. "Gazimon! Get over here! I have a delivery for you to make, yeah!"

-Back with the digidestined-

Naruto was relaxing inside the cool water of the oasis he and the others had just arrived at when a shiver suddenly ran up his spine. ' _Why do I have a bad feeling in my gut all of a sudden.'_ He wondered, before shrugging it off as dread for having to walk in the desert again since the giant snowball had completely melted.

Besides, he had other things to worry about. "A-are you okay?" …Like the fact Mimi was soaking in the water with him.

"Yeah fine, what about yourself? You look like you have a fever." He commented, referencing to Mimi's still lightly blushing face. He was still confused on why she absolutely insisted on staying with him instead of going with the others to pick some of the fruit they had found growing all over the place but just figured she wanted to cool down as well. He had offered to use his Oiroke no Jutsu like last time only for her to say it wasn't necessary since they were both wearing their undergarments this time.

"I'm alright, it's just a-a sunburn." She muttered softly, mentally facepalming at him not realizing she was blushing, though it wasn't entirely a lie. Parts of her face and neck had gotten minor sunburns since she gave her hat to Palmon. Unfortunately, instead of getting Naruto to drop it, he became more concerned, reached over to where their stuff was, and grabbed his scroll.

"Then we should get that treated soon. Hold on, I think I have some aloe vera gel in here somewhere." He said while channeling some chakra into a new seal with the kanji for 'Medical' on it. After the usual puff of smoke cleared, it revealed a small pile of bandages, disinfectants, painkillers, and other such things. "Aha! Here it is, so glad I got everything in this thing sorted out. Definitely saves time." He said while grabbing a small clear container and sealing the rest up again.

Tossing the scroll back in the pile of clothes, Naruto waded through the water to Mimi's side and handed it to her. "This should help, Tsunade-bachan told me it works great for sunburns." He told her with a grin, getting her to smile softly in return.

Feeling a brief flare of something inside herself as Naruto was starting to back up, Mimi suddenly leaned forward and kissed the blonde's whiskered cheek, muttering a quiet "Thank you," before just as quickly sitting back down as her face turned just a shade redder and applying the gel.

Naruto blinked in surprise at the girl's action for a few seconds before smiling goofily and plopping back down on his side. "You're welcome Mimi-chan."

They stayed in the water for another ten minutes before climbing out and getting redressed, just in time for their friends to get back with the fruit. "Sooo, did the lovely couple enjoy their dip together?" Gomamon asked in a teasing voice, getting Mimi to blush again while Naruto looked confused.

"You guys better hurry up and chow! We think we found where Joe's crest is!" Tai said while shoving the fruit in their arms impatiently.

"Really? Where?" Naruto asked before glancing down at Agumon who was holding his stomach in discomfort. "And what happened to Agumon?"

"In a coliseum thing not far from here, and he ate too much." Sora explained.

"He'll need it to give him energy for when he digivolves to the next level." Tai said confidently.

"If you say so," Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders, munching away at an odd purple banana while Mimi enjoyed an orange pear. "Let's get going then."

A quick walk around the oasis revealed what the group was talking about as Naruto and Mimi saw the run-down coliseum a short way in the distance while Joe's tag started glowing a soft blue. Hurrying across the dunes, they were about two thirds of the way there when Joe's foot caught onto a ruined black cord that had been buried in the sand and fell flat onto his face.

"How odd, why would someone put a cable all the way out here?" Gomamon asked while lifting the cord up before yelping in pain as the frayed cord shocked him mildly. "And would it have killed whoever did it to keep them properly maintained." He grumbled while shaking off the slight tingling in his flippers and helping his partner up, never noticing the Gazimon running in the distance with a sparking red crystal held in its tail.

Walking through the entrance, the kids of the group blinked in surprise at what they found. "A soccer field?" Tai said questioningly as he glanced between the two goal posts and a lone soccer ball as it rolled around.

"Isn't that a game you mentioned a while back?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's a sport where two teams try to get the ball into the opposing team's net while using any part of the body except your arms or hands." Sora said, walking up to the ball and easily juggling it around with her feet. "Me and Tai played on the same team together at school."

"Cool, maybe you could show me how to play after we find the crest." Naruto said, getting the helmeted girl to nod in agreement while she caught the ball with her hands.

"Sounds like fun."

However, before they could even begin to start looking properly, the sound of static filled the air followed by clapping. Following the sound to the source, the group stared in shock at a massive sized television built into the front of the stadium where a grainy video of Etemon was playing. [ _Congratulations you digidestined brats for making it to my little stadium. And just in time for a special show I had planned just for you._ ]

"Crud, it's Etemon! We need to get out of here!" Matt yelled with everyone but Naruto running to the other side of the stadium.

"There you are, monkey brains! I've been looking all over for you! We never got to finish our fight before you ran off like a little bitch!" The whiskered blonde called out, causing Etemon to jump on the screen before glaring at him.

[ _YOU! You will pay for humiliating me Teumesemon! And you were the one to run away not me!_ ]

"What was that? I can't understand you! I don't speak bitchnease!" ' _That's right, keep your focus on me while everyone else gets away.'_ Naruto thought with a smirk as he insulted the ape digimon. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be as he heard several cries of shock behind him. Glancing back, his eyes widened when he saw everyone except Agumon trapped inside the now electrified goal net.

[ _Perfect, those little brats won't be able to get away again while I deal with you!_ ] Etemon said with a wicked grin. [ _Now, allow me to introduce the surprise guest of today's event! He's big! He's bad! And he may just seem a little bit familiar! The digimon of the hour! GigaGreymon!_ ]

With a deafening roar, the familiar form of the orange dinosaur digimon smashed his way through wall before them. However, unlike Agumon's champion form, this Greymon wore a large black collar around it's neck covered in wicked hooks and edges while a large red jewel was embedded inside the middle of it's forehead. Well, that and he was nearly double the size.

"Holy crap! Another Greymon!" Tai exclaimed in shock from the cage. "And he's ginormous!"

[ _Uh-huh, and it's all thanks to my loyal fans! They sent me that little trinket on GigaGreymon's head there, which almost doubles the little guys strength! Let's see how well you handle this!_ ] Etemon said with a laugh as he pulled out a bucket of popcorn.

"Not to point out the obvious or anything… but this would probably be a very good time to digivolve if I do say so myself!" Joe yelled.

"Right!"/ "Got it!"

" _Kitsumon digivolve to… Teumesemon!"_

 _"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"_

Hopping on top of Greymon's head, Naruto began channeling fire from his tails into his arms as he spoke quietly. "Greymon, you focus on getting the others out of that cage while I keep this Teme busy. I get the feeling we're going to need all the help we can get."

"Got it, be careful Naruto." The dino said in his gravelly voice before flicking his head to launch Naruto right at the oversized version of himself.

-Insert Battle Music-

"Seirei-en no Dangan!" Naruto called swinging his arms and launching two giant balls of blue fire mid-air. GigaGreymon roared loudly in response while batting the flaming projectiles, causing them to explode prematurely. They served their purpose though as the sudden flare of the attacks detonating blinded the digimon long enough for Naruto to zip past his guard and land a devastating punch to his head, sending him stumbling back several feet.

It didn't do much else however as GigaGreymon easily recovered from the blow and responded in kind by swatting the still airborne hybrid away with his tail. Skipping across the ground, Naruto crashed into the side wall of the coliseum with a grunt and quickly pulled himself out. "Well, that certainly rung a few bells." He said, shaking his head a few times to clear the ringing before rushing back in.

"GRAAAAHHH! GIGA NOVA FLAME!" The giant digimon roared while exhaling a torrent of fire at Naruto as he approached, forcing him to abandon his charge in favor of dodging.

"So that's how you want to play huh? Well then how about you try this! Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" As soon as these words left his mouth, a giant cloud of smoke filled the area and quickly cleared to reveal dozens of grinning copies of the blonde with their flaming limbs pointed right at GigaGreymon, making the oversized digimon sweat nervously. "Shigo no ryūsei-gun! (Meteor Shower of the Afterlife!)"

Thousands of balls of fire flew through the air and struck the dino at once, making it cry in agony as they scorched his skin. Not one to just sit there and take the pain though, GigaGreymon fired another torrent of flames that roasted a good majority of the clones before they could react while forcing the rest to stop firing as they leapt out of the way. They didn't survive long after that however as the oversized Greymon fired a second blast then swiped his tail across the burning wreckage for good measure.

Confident that he was the victor, GigaGreymon lifted his head up in the air and started to roar only to get cut off by Greymon ramming into his side. At the same time, Naruto suddenly appeared on top of the digimon's head with a flaming Rasengan in hand that he promptly rammed into the chitinous covering. "Seirei-en Rasengan!"

The combined force of both their attacks sent the mighty digimon crumbling to the ground with a roar of agony. Jumping off just before he could be crushed by the falling enemy, Naruto landed back on Greymon's noggin with a tired pant. "Great timing Greymon, did you manage to get the others out?"

"Nah, they found their own way out, along with Joe's crest."

"Good to hear, because we really are going to need their help with this one." As Naruto spoke, GigaGreymon was already beginning to regain his bearing and get back onto his feet.

"I know what you mean. I don't know how much longer I can stay digivolved, my stomach is killing me." Greymon groaned while grasping his belly.

"Just hang in there a little long-Look out!" Naruto called out too late as flames engulfed them. GigaGreymon had managed to discreetly angle his head towards them while he was getting up and fired at them before they realized what happened. Blinded by the surprise attack, Naruto ended up getting a taste of his own medicine when he and Greymon were mule kicked away.

Flying off of his impromptu ride, the whiskered teen flew off into the stands and into a support column, causing the whole section to collapse on top of him. After a few seconds the sound of rubble shifting could be heard, followed by the pile rising up slowly before suddenly falling back down. " _Son of a bitch… Can someone get me out of here? My hands are pinned._ " His muffled voice called out.

Thankfully for him, rescue came fast as Matt, Mimi, Garurumon, and Togemon showed up and swiftly dug him out. "You alright?" Mimi asked as she pulled him back to his feet.

"Just a few scrapes and a bruised pride." Naruto grunted as he brushed some stone flecks off his shoulder while turning back to the fight and froze. "A better question would be: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU GOGGLE WEARING BAKA!?" He screamed out as he watched Tai face down GigaGreymon all on his own.

"He must be trying to force Greymon to digivolve further." Matt said.

"More like trying to get himself killed! Garurumon, Togemon, let's go save his a-" Naruto was cut off as thunder boomed out and the sky darkened out of the blue. Moments later, beams of spiraling black and red energy fell down from the sky and flowed into Greymon as his body turned black then into a reddish-orange miasma that grew in size and took on the shape of something that easily towered over GigaGreymon.

" _ **Greymon dark digivolve to…**_ "

As the miasma settled into place, it turned solid and became stark white until all that remained was a massive skeletal beast with a large orange heart in its ribcage and an orange fish-like object on it's back.

" _ **…SkullGreymon!"**_

"…That can't be good."

-End Chapter-

AN: GigaGreymon: A normal Greymon that has had its natural abilities pushed far past it's bodies normal limits due to a chunk of Kyuubi's crystalized data being embedded into its skull.

And thus, SkullGreymon makes his big debut into the story. How will Naruto and the others going to be able to handle this? What other nefarious 'Fan Mail' will Aidmon deliver next? How much longer till Gamakichi returns with a response from Tsunade? Keep reading and find out. Thank you for reading and please review.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 24-

-Last Time-

" _ **Greymon dark digivolve to…**_ _"_

 _As the miasma settled into place, it turned solid and became stark white until all that remained was a massive skeletal beast with a large orange heart in its ribcage and an orange fish-like object on it's back._

 _"_ _ **…SkullGreymon!"**_

 _"…That can't be good."_

-And Now [Play: Animal I have Become by Three Days Grace]-

" **GRAAAAHHHHHHH!** " SkullGreymon roared as he finished digivolving, the force of the roar causing the whole coliseum to shake and even crumble slightly.

"RAAAAH!" GigaGreymon roared back while ramming it's head into the skeletal digimon's ribcage and pushing it back several yards until he managed to stop himself.

Growling in anger, Skullgreymon raised his bony hands and grabbed onto the mutated Greymon's head. " **Die.** " He said in a terrifying voice that sent shivers down everyone's spines before he tightened his grip, causing fractures to quickly spread across GigaGreymon's chitin covered head.

Eyes widening when it realized what was happening, the evil Greymon flailed around in a desperate attempt to free. It clawed, smashed, bit, and fired with all of it strength but to no avail as SkullGreymon didn't even flinch as shallow gouges were carved into its bones.

"Uh guys, should we do something? And if so, what?" Sora asked as she inched slightly behind Birdramon. Unfortunately, she got no response as everyone else was just as stumped. GigaGreymon was their enemy but at the same time it was pretty clear that SkullGreymon was not exactly in the right state of mind at the moment.

"You don't think he's really going to…" *Cra-Squelch* Joe had started to ask, only to fall silent as the pressure became too much and GigaGreymon's head caved in with a sickening wet crunch. The digidestined and their digimon could do nothing but watch in horror as the defeated Greymon fell to the ground, digital blood pouring from its crush head as its body twitched and spasmed for several moments before finally falling still and dissolving into data.

While they were recovering from the gory spectacle, SkullGreymon raised a bony foot and crushed the sparkling gem that been left behind by his kill. Satisfied that every trace of the other dino digimon was destroyed, the skeletal monster turned his attention to the massive TV that Etemon was displayed on and leaned forwards as the giant orange fish thing on his back shot off like a rocket. " **Darkshot!** "

Flying through the air at high speed, the attack barely took a second to reach its destination and explode with a deafening blast that sent almost everyone flying off their feet. As the blast died down and the smoke settled, it revealed that both the TV and a good majority of that side of the coliseum had been completely vaporized while SkullGreymon had already found a new target, Tai and the others still in the fight arena.

"Greymon! Stop! What are you doing?! It's me!" Tai yelled as he stumbled back out of the way of the giant bone foot that almost crushed him.

"I don't think he cares right now Tai!" Joe yelled as he grabbed the goggled boy by the arm and pulled him along as he, Sora, T.K., and Izzy booked it as their digimon tried to fight the crazy digimon. Tried being the key word as SkullGreymon swatted them away with ease.

"Kuso, Greymon's gone completely nuts." Naruto swore before turning to his companions. "Togemon, cover them!" He said while pointing to the running kids then turning to Garurumon and hopping onto his back. "You help me keep him distracted!"

"You got it!" Garurumon yelled in agreement while jumping down to the battle without hesitation. Grasping onto the mane of fur sticking of the wolf digimon's neck, Naruto held out his free arm as a large ball of blue flames started to form in his hand. As soon as they got close enough, Naruto hurled the fireball straight at SkullGreymon's head and landing a lucky shot on his eye.

" **GRAAAAAAHH!** " Roaring in pain and anger, SkullGreymon immediately focused on the pair as Garurumon got ready to charge him only for Naruto to stop him with a pull of his mane.

"Hold on, we need to find a weak spot first!" The foxy blonde said while hurling another fireball at SkullGreymon's head, only for it to be swatted away like a fly. "You saw what happened with GigaGreymon. The direct approach is not a good idea here."

"Right," Garurumon agreed while turning to the side and began running around the corrupted digimon as Naruto continued to attack from distance. Quickly getting irritated by this, SkullGreymon roared in anger as the long bone arcs on its back bent forwards. " **Boneyard!** "

"Incoming!" Naruto yelled as the arcs suddenly split open and dozens of human sized bone spears were launched at them.

"I see them!" Acting fast, Garurumon pivoted on his forelegs, spinning himself around as his long tail glowed bright blue. "Ice Wall!" He yelled as a dome of ice surrounded them just before the spears hit.

"Hold on. How long could you do this?!" Naruto demanded over the sound of the spears hitting their cover.

"Ever since I first digivolved, why do you… … oh right… oops." Garurumon said sheepishly as he cowed under Naruto's irritated glare.

"We'll talk about this later." Naruto said as the barrier shattered around them as the spear attack ended. "We can't keep playing cat and mouse or someone's going to get hurt, namely us." As he spoke Togemon and Ikkakumon appeared on either side of them ready for a fight. "Where are the others?"

"Birdramon and Kabuterimon are carrying everyone else above us." Ikkakumon said, making Naruto glance up to see the silhouettes of the two digimon as they circled the coliseum. "They should be out of harm's way up there."

"So what's the plan?" Togemon asked while punching her fists together.

"Keep at a distance and aim for the eyes or heart. We need to tire him out enough that he reverts to normal. Now scatter!" Naruto yelled as SkullGreymon charged at them.

As they split up and ran different directions, the skeletal digimon came to a halt and looked between the three targets in apparent confusion before settling on his original prey. This however, left SkullGreymon completely open to the Harpoon Torpedoes and Needle Spray that struck both of his eyes at the same time.

" **GRAAAHH! DIE! DIE! DIE!** " He roared, flailing his arms while blindly firing another fish missile from its back that obliterated even more of the coliseum. " **DIE! DIE!** "

As they scrambled to avoid the attacks, Garurumon and Togemon had only a little trouble… Ikkakumon on the other hand was completely screwed as his bulky form was too slow. So, when a suspiciously large shadow covered him, he only had enough time and say, "Ah crap," before the bone arm crashed into him.

-In the Sky [Pause Music]-

"Ikkakumon!" Joe screamed from Birdramon's back with Sora, Tai, T.K., and Patamon when he saw the giant seal digimon get sent flying through one of the gaps that had been blasted in the coliseum and sent skidding across the desert. "Is he okay?"

"I can't tell, there's too much dust." Tai said as he focused his scope on the spot Ikkakumon had stopped. "Wait… I think I… yeah he's alright, just dedigivolved." He said as he managed to see Gomamon waddle out of the dust cloud, coughing and a bit scuffed up but otherwise fine. "And it looks like Togemon is going to get him."

"Oh thank god," Joe sighed in relief.

"Uh guys, are Naruto and Garurumon doing what I think their doing?'" Sora asked while pointing back to the coliseum. Following her finger, the three boys' jaws dropped. "I'll take that a yes."

-Back on the Ground, Two minutes earlier[Play: Protectors of the Earth by Two Steps From Hell]-

"Kuso! Togemon, go make sure he's okay!" Naruto called out as Ikkakumon was sent flying out of the area.

"On it!" The cactus boxer yelled back before running off, leaving Naruto and Garurumon to deal with the recovering skeletal digimon.

"How you doing Garurumon?" Naruto asked the wolf digimon he was riding.

"Getting a bit tired to be honest, I don't know how much longer I can stay digivolved." Garurumon said while sidestepping a random bone spear that got a little too close for comfort.

"Just keep it together a bit longer, I have an idea… but it's a bit crazy." Naruto said before explaining his plan. When he finished, Garurumon turned his head back and gave Naruto the best deadpan he could.

"That isn't crazy… that is absolutely nuts." He said dull before turning back to SkullGreymon who had almost completely regained his bearings and was now glaring at them in rage. "But I don't have a one, so let's do this!" He declared while charging.

"Hell yeah-Ttebayo!"

Swiftly dodging a claw that crashed into the ground next to them, Garurumon actually leapt onto the outstretched limb as it was rising back up. Slipping a bit on the smooth surface of the bone as it moved, he proceeded to charge up the arm, narrowly avoiding as SkullGreymon tried to smash them with his other hand.

Upon reaching the shoulder, he leapt as high as he could and landed on the corrupted Greymon's head where he promptly sunk his jaws as deeply as he could on the solitary horn sticking out in the middle. Naturally not liking this one bit, SkullGreymon shook his head fiercely in an attempt to through his unwanted passengers off as his hands couldn't reach up there.

With Garurumon's only firm hold being on the horn, he and Naruto were effectively being ragdolled around by the powerful shaking… just as planned.

When one of the shakes made them swing out in front of SkullGreymon's face, it was to reveal that Naruto was no longer riding on the wolf digimon's back. Instead, he was clinging to the end of Garurumon's long tail with one hand while the other had a flaming Rasengan. Upon reaching the apex of the swing was flicked straight at the massive digimon's ribcage, easily slipping through the ribs themselves and heading right for the massive orange heart within.

[Stop Music]

"Time to snap out of this Agumon! Seirei-en RasengaAAAAAH!" Naruto started to yell, only to end up screaming in pain. The instant his attack had made contact, pitch black lightning shot out in all directions, violently shocking the foxy blonde. Not giving up though, he powered through the pain and channeled as much power as he could into the spiraling ball of flames in his hand.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!" SkullGreymon certainly didn't like that as his thrashing increased tenfold while he clawed at his sparking chest. He didn't even notice as Garurumon finally let go and fell to the ground while devolving back to Gabumon or when Togemon returned with Gomamon held in her gloved hand.

"Gabumon? What happened? Where's Naruto?" The cactus boxer asked while hoisting up the exhausted digimon with her free arm.

"Up… there…" Gabumon said weakly, lifting a hand and pointing to SkullGreymon. Just as he did so, a bright ball of white and black light began to form inside the colossal digimon's chest, steadily spreading outwards.

Hollow eyes widening as she realized what was about to happen, Togemon pulled the two wounded digimon close and dove behind a pile of rubble.

" **GRAH! DIE! DIE! D-"** *kraka-BOOOOOOM!*

With one last howl of rage, SkullGreymon was completely engulfed by a massive explosion. Most of the remaining walls and columns were either blown to pieces by arcs of black electricity or crumbled from the concussive force of the blast, throwing up a large cloud of dust and smoke that completely obscured the area.

*Cough cough* "Are you guys… *cough* alright?" A now devolved Palmon asked as she dragged Gomamon and Gabumon out of said dust, a few bruises and scrapes on various parts of her body.

"Did anyone get the digi-code on that Monochromon?" Gomamon asked with a slur, a large welt forming on his head from where a chunk of rock had clonked him.

Meanwhile Gabumon was busy coughing out a mouthful of sand and simply responded with a shaky thumbs-up.

Sighing in relief, the plant digimon fell on her rear tiredly, looking up as a shadow covered her to see Kabuterimon's face as he and Birdramon landed before also reverting to their rookie forms once their passengers dismounted.

"Palmon!" Mimi said worriedly, rushing over and scooping the tired digimon into her arms while Matt and joe helped Gabumon and Gomamon respectively. "Are you alright?"

"Nothing a good meal won't fix." Palmon said while covering her grumbling stomach with a slight blush.

"That's great," Mimi muttered, hugging her partner gently before looking around. "But where's Naruto?"

"And Agumon?" Tai added as walked up to the pair, scanning the area for any sign of the two along with the others. Unfortunately, thanks to the aforementioned dust, their field of vision was severely limited. Before any of their worry grow too much though, the sound of coughing caught their attention followed by a welcome familiar voice.

"We're over here." Naruto called out as his form slowly started to come into view.

Just as the group started to feel relief once more though, a particularly strong gust of wind blew by and cleared the air enough for them all to get a clear view of the whiskered blonde, causing them to freeze in shock. Naruto was somehow completely unharmed, albeit a bit ruffled up, and a passed out Koromon could be seen snoozing in his arms.

However….

The fur on his arms had turned pitch black all the way up to his shoulders along with three of his nine tails, and his arm sleeve things had streaks of blood red along them. Thin streaks of black fur had also branched out from his left eye, which now glowed a vibrant crimson in the black abyss of his sclera. Finally, his shirt had been almost entirely destroyed in the fight, revealing the scar across his chest from the black gear pulsing with dark energy in exact rhythm of his heartbeat.

"Good thing you're… you're here… I… I don't feel… so… well." Naruto barely managed to say before collapsing.

-End Chapter-

AN: Hope you all liked the chapter. I always felt that SkullGreymon's first appearance was kinda glossed over since he had like three minutes of screen time before devolving back to Koromon, so I made this. Also, I hope you like the music I picked out, I tried to find songs that really fit the chapter. If you feel like you know of better ones though, feel free to suggest them to me and I'll check them out. What has happened to Naruto? You ask, well keep on reading to find out. Thank you for reading and please review.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 25-

-Last Time-

 _However…_

 _The fur on his arms had turned pitch black all the way up to his shoulders along with three of his nine tails, and his arm sleeve things had streaks of blood red along them. Thin streaks of black fur had also branched out from his left eye, which now glowed a vibrant crimson in the black abyss of his sclera. Finally, his shirt had been almost entirely destroyed in the fight, revealing the scar across his chest from the black gear pulsing with dark energy in exact rhythm of his heartbeat._

 _"Good thing you're… you're here… I… I don't feel… so… well." Naruto barely managed to say before collapsing._

-And Now-

As soon as Naruto hit the ground, the group snapped out of their shock and rushed over to help. Matt and Mimi were the first to reach him and quickly flipped him over while moving Koromon out of the way before recoiling as small dark discharges leapt from the blonde's form.

Concerned but not knowing what to do, Mimi turned to the only person that might and saw that Izzy was already two steps ahead of her. "The dark data that SkullGreymon was releasing must of infected him during the fight. We need to get rid of it fast before he gets completely corrupted."

Instead of pulling out his computer as he was talking like she expected however, the tech genius grabbed the digivice on his bag's shoulder strap and pointed it at the blonde as it began giving off a bright light. Realizing what he was doing, Mimi quickly did the same and was soon followed by everyone else but Tai who stayed back with a look of guilt on his face.

As the light bathed over him, Naruto spasmed erratically for several seconds before small amounts of black smoke began to rise from his body. At the same time, his features slowly started to return to normal starting with his arms and tails, making the kids to relax a bit.

Unfortunately, the relief was only short-lived.

Before the process was even a third of the way done, Naruto suddenly went from spasming to a full-blown seizure as blood started spouting from his mouth and the scar on his chest pulsed rapidly.

As soon as they saw this, everyone dropped their arms or back away in shock, causing the digivices to stop glowing and the blonde to settle down. "What the heck?" Joe asked as he glanced down at the device in his hand then back at Naruto. "That's not supposed to happen, right?"

"Must be because he's half human, we'll have to try something else." Izzy said as he now pulled out his laptop and plugged the cord into Naruto's hand with a bit of difficulty thanks to the random shocks.

"Like what?" Mimi asked worriedly as she leaned over the boy's shoulder as he worked on his computer.

"I could possibly flush out the corrupted data by doing a complete digital analysis and isolating the affected areas." Izzy said while typing, a 3D wire frame image of Naruto appearing on his screen as he spoke. "I just need to modify a few firewalls to act as containment programs and voila." Izzy said while punching the enter key. "Now I just need to wait for… *Beep* Huh? …Hold a second, this can't be right." He muttered in confusion as his computer pinged and several readouts popped up. Reading them over carefully, his confusion only grew before he started typing like mad.

"What can't be right? Izzy, what's wrong?" Matt asked, only to be ignored by the computer whizz as he worked in such a fever it was a miracle that none of the keys of his laptop broke.

Of course, it didn't help that Izzy could be heard muttering, "This doesn't make sense." under his breath as he went through dozens of lines of code within seconds then hitting the enter key to see several different results. This included the image of Naruto being replaced with one of a beating heart with an odd blocky spot in the middle of it, making Izzy's eyes widen upon seeing it. "No… no, no, no no nonononono." Repeating the process, Izzy actually swore much to the shock of the others as it showed the same thing again.

"Damn it! How could I have missed that? I made sure to check everything. I would have noticed… …of course, the glitch! It must have infected my computer when I hooked up before!" He exclaimed while smacking his forehead in frustration.

"Izzy, could you please tell us what's going on?" Tentomon said as he floated to the side of his partner and placed a claw on his shoulder.

"Yeah, starting with that." Matt pointed to the screen, more specifically at the heart on it.

Glancing up at the 'cool guy' of their group, Izzy sighed heavily. "If it's what I think it is Matt, then it's extremely bad news."

"Well stop dancing around it then and tell us already." Sora said, sounding a bit snippier then she intended thanks to her nervousness.

"…I think it's a fragment of the black gear that got him back on File Island." Izzy said bluntly after a long pause, making everyone freeze. "It must've gotten lodged inside Naruto's heart when the gear shattered from Mimi and Palmon pulling it out. That would also explain why Naruto reacted so violently when we used our digivices, the fragment was tearing his heart up from the inside out when we inadvertently tried to expel it."

Before anyone could respond to his explanation, they were briefly blinded by a bright glow from Naruto as he devolved from his Teumesemon form to Kitsumon and then to ChibiNarutomon, with everything but the scar on his chest thankfully returning to normal. He then groaned loudly while sitting up as a stubby hand went to his head.

"Ugh, why do I feel like Ero-sennin used me as a scapegoat for getting caught peeping?" The tiny blonde grumbled as he slowly stood up and rubbed his eyes. When he was done, he blinked a few times to clear the fogginess in his vision before tilting his head in confusion when he saw standing over him with worried and shocked expressions. "What'cha all staring aMMPH?!"

He was cut off mid-sentence as Mimi scooped him up into her arms and smothered him in an extremely tight hug. Extremely confused at the girl's reaction, Naruto sent a questioning look towards the others.

-Elsewhere-

"Dang it! I was so close!" Etemon yelled while smashing the console he had been using to pieces with his bare fists. "Everything was going perfectly! But NOOOOOO! That stupid Greymon just had to dark digivolve at the worst moment!"

As he raged, his Gazimon underlings cowered behind a different control panel, praying to every digital god they could think of that something calmed the angry orange ape down before he decided to turn his anger on them. Said prayers were answered when a soft knocking on the door suddenly echoed through the darkened trailer.

Perking up at the noise, Etemon appeared before the door in the blink of an eye and practically tore it open, revealing a certain nurse doll digimon standing there. However, unlike last time where she was only holding an envelope, Aidmon was effortlessly holding up a large cardboard box almost as big as she was. "Hello again Etemon-sama. Is now a bad time?" She asked with fake curiosity as she tilted her head in 'confusion' at the sight of the huffing digimon.

Taking a few deep breaths to relax, Etemon gave his signature evil smirk as he calmly adjusted his sunglasses. "Why not at all little missy, it is always a good time for my devout fans. I'm assuming that is why you are here again, correctamundo?"

Barely suppressing the wicked smirk that threatened to spread across her face, Aidmon instead responded with an innocent giggle as she hefted the package she carried up for him to take. "You are correct as always Etemon-sama. I do hope you enjoy this fan-mail as much as you did before."

"So do I little missy, so do I." Etemon said in an ominous tone as he accepted the box and gave the small digimon a pat on the head before heading inside, missing the slight disgruntled look on her face as she did so.

As she turned around to walk away, that distaste turned to full on disgust as she took off her hat and started cleaning it with a disinfectant wipe she had in her pocket. ' _Be thankful that you bring my master entertainment, otherwise I would have crushed you like the bug you were for daring to touch me.'_ She thought darkly, sending a brief one-eyed glare at the trailer before disappearing from sight.

Seconds later, dark chuckling could be heard from within said trailer, Etemon was indeed most pleased on what his 'fan' had sent him.

-Back with the digidestined-

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up," Naruto said with a raised eyebrow, still in his chibi form and being carried by Mimi as the group trekked through the desert. "I have a what in my heart?"

"A black gear fragment." Izzy said as worked on his computer as they walked. "It's absorbing dark data and even generating a small amount of it while corrupting your own data in the process."

"Okay, and why can't you just remove it then?" The blonde asked with a tilted head, sighing a little as Joe handed Mimi a small drenched towelette, who in turn draped it over his shoulders. "If it got in there then it should be able to get out again."

"If only it was that simple." Izzy said with a shake of his head. "The shard isn't absorbing dark data just because it can Naruto. It's reconstituting itself."

"…Could you please speak in a way that doesn't leave me both confused and with a headache?" Naruto asked dully.

Palming his face, Izzy sighed again. "It's trying to rebuild itself inside of you." He reiterated as plainly as he could. "In the time that I've been studying it, the shard has increased in size 1.5732%. Factoring its current size and dividing it by the estimated amount of time it has been within your body and then multiplying by the rate of growth, the shard was most likely only two or three centimeters big when it first entered the heart."

"So now that it's grown, removing it is riskier." Sora finished.

"Try completely suicidal, even with his accelerated healing factor." Izzy said while closing his laptop and putting it away. "The black gear shard is almost an inch big now, the amount of damage it would do would be impossible to repair in time before you…" He trailed off at the end, but everyone knew what he was going to say and a somber mood fell over… most of them.

"Ahhhh, Man Obaa-chan is going to be so mad with how busy she'll be when she's fixing me up." Naruto said with a casual shrug, causing everyone to stop and look at him.

"…Your grandma knows how to do heart surgery?" Joe asked incredulously, his eyebrows vanishing into his hairline when Naruto nodded.

"Well, Tsunade isn't really my baa-chan. I just call her that cause she's really old and hides it under an illusion that makes her look like she's twenty." Naruto explained. "But yeah, she can definitely fix up my heart good as new once I get back home. Hell, she's already done it before when this teme Kabuto almost killed me by severing all the major blood vessels to it."

…

…

Complete silence followed this statement as everyone stared at the chibified ninja, making him tilt his head in confusion. "What?"

"Dude, how can you say something like that so… so calmly?" Matt asked, genuinely freaked out. They way Naruto stated the fact he had almost died in such a gruesome way, in such a simple way like he was talking about the weather, really unnerved the usually stoic boy.

"Meh, it's pretty traumatizing the first few times sure, but after your sixth or seventh near death experience they tend to get a bit repetitive." Naruto admitted with a shrug. He lived a dangerous lifestyle, one where he had been in several extremely close calls and expected many more to come until he either finally died or retired.

His words only made the group around him more uneasy, no more than Mimi herself, having personally gone through a near-death experience. She couldn't even begin to imagine being able to go through such a thing again, let alone six or seven times. The mere thought of it made her stomach churn and her hold on Naruto to unconsciously tighten.

Desperate for a change of subject, she looked around and thankfully spotted something in the distance. "Look, a giant cactus!"

-End Chapter-

AN: I'll admit, this chapter kinda got away from me. I was originally planning on them getting to the boat and dealing with Cockatrimon, but ended up with this instead. Not sure where it came from cause to be honest, I was half asleep through most of it. Thank you for reading and please review.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 26-

-Last Time-

 _"Meh, it's pretty traumatizing the first few times sure, but after your sixth or seventh near death experience they tend to get a bit repetitive." Naruto admitted with a shrug. He lived a dangerous lifestyle, one where he had been in several extremely close calls and expected many more to come until he either finally died or retired._

 _His words only made the group around him more uneasy, no more than Mimi herself, having personally gone through a near-death experience. She couldn't even begin to imagine being able to go through such a thing again, let alone six or seven times. The mere thought of it made her stomach churn and her hold on Naruto to unconsciously tighten._

 _Desperate for a change of subject, she looked around and thankfully spotted something in the distance. "Look, a giant cactus!"_

-And Now-

"Whoa, that thing is massive." Matt said with a low whistle as the group gazed at the giant spikey plant not too far away in the distance.

"Yeah, it's even bigger than I am as Togemon." Palmon agreed as she tilted her head back to see the top.

"It's also not real." Izzy commented, getting the others to look at him in confusion. "What? It's clearly a mirage, it's wobbling way too much to be simply high thermal waves distorting our ocular reception."

"…"

*Sigh* "It also doesn't have a shadow." He said exasperatedly while pointing at the bottom of the 'plant'. As soon as he did this, the entire plant gradually vanished from view, proving his point.

"Ah man, and I was looking forward to some nice shade." Gomamon pouted while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Sora was about to say something, but paused when she felt the ground start lightly trembling beneath her. Eyebrow raised in confusion, she glanced around and felt her jaw drop. "You might still get it, we've got incoming!" She yelled while jabbing her finger to the side.

Snapping to the direction she pointed, the whole group gapped in shock as they saw a luxury cruise liner sailing through the sand right at them. Scrambling out of its path, everyone was forced to shield their eyes as the ship past due to the large clouds of sand that the massive boat kicked up.

However, instead of just continuing on its way, the boat quickly ground to a halt before them with a loud hiss of its engines. As it settled down, a Numemon in a sailor outfit peeked over the railing at them. Its eyes narrowed as it glared down at the group before widening and turning into hearts as they settled onto Mimi.

Giving off a creepy chuckle, the slug digimon suddenly turned away from them with a scoff of fake disinterest. Sadly for it, none of the kids or there digimon bought the act as they gazed at the green slug with deadpan expressions, especially since it kept glancing back at them with expectant looks every few seconds.

"Does anyone else think this is a trap?" Joe asked dully.

"Yep,"

"Definitely,"

"It's rather obvious,"

"How could it NOT be one?"

"Good, it's not just me," The slight hypochondriac muttered, "So what do we do about it? We can't just ignore it since whoever is steering that ship will probably just keep following us."

"We do the only thing we can do," Naruto said as he squirmed out of Mimi's arms and clambered up onto her shoulder before being engulfed in a puff of smoke. "We trap the trappers and hijack that ship-Ttebayo!" He declared dramatically once the smoke cleared, revealing that he was now dressed like a pirate, hooked hand and eyepatch included.

"Eh, not like we have much choice about it anyway." Matt said with a shrug as he pulled out his digivice, with the other kids minus Tai nodding in agreement and doing the same. "Let's be pirates."

-Elsewhere-

"Mwahaha!" Inside the ships bridge, a chicken looking digimon the size of two men laughed darkly as it watched the group talking on one of several monitors. "Once those foolish digidestined step on board, they'll be so amazed at the luxurious commodities my ship has to offer that they'll drop their guards completely."

Breaking into another fit of laughter, the giant chicken walked over to a large mirror on the other side of the room and puffed its chest ant tail feathers out pridefully. "And then I, the mighty Cockatrimon, will be able to come it and take them all out in one fell swoop! Mwahaha-"

*Boom!*

"GAH! WHAT THE HELL!?" Cockatrimon cried in shock as several small explosions suddenly shook the ship. Rushing back to his console, the chicken's eyes widened in shock when instead of seeing his targets carelessly boarding his ship, he was greeted with the sight of several champion-level digimon causing havoc.

"Hoi! Those brats are wrecking my beautiful boat!" He cried out indignantly when Kabuterimon blasted the front deck, not even caring that several of his Numemon crew were sent overboard by the attack.

Clucking angrily, the giant chicken slammed a wing against the console, creating a large dent before turning around and marching towards the only door in the room. "If they think I'm going to just stand here and let them get away with that, they have another thing coming."

Slamming the door open, Cockatrimon barely made it three whole steps outside the room before a large red fist burst through a window and decided to introduce itself to his face. Flying back with a cry of pain, he crashed into the far wall and sunk in several inches.

"Greetings me matey," Naruto said cheerfully from Mimi's shoulder as she walked into the room, the blonde's pirate hat now atop her head. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but once we saw this ship our little gaggle decided we just had to have it. Hope you don't mind if we help ourselves."

Groaning slightly as he pulled himself out of the wall, Cockatrimon glared hatefully at the pair standing before him. "How dare you talk to me, the great Cockatrimon, like that. This is my ship, bestowed upon me by his mightiness Etemon himself! My trap may have failed, but I will not! I will kill you all for his glory!"

"Oh, if that's case," Mimi started as she stepped to the side and the red fist from earlier shot through the doorway and grabbed Cockatrimon. "Then we're definitely not feel sorry about it, or this next part."

Before the giant chicken could do more than squawk in surprise, he was dragged outside and promptly beaten into a paste by the six champion digimon waiting for him. Ignoring his cries of agony and pleas for mercy, Mimi walked over to the ships controls and looked them over nervously.

"Uhhhh, you wouldn't happen to know how to steer this thing, would you?" She asked Naruto, blinking in surprise when he nodded.

"Yeah actually, during our first real mission my team spent a month at a fishing village in the Land of Waves place protecting an old bridgebuilder from a greedy midget businessman." Naruto told Mimi while hopping off her shoulder and onto the controls.

"Said midget messed up the places economy pretty bad, so even after we got rid of him (May Gato forever rot in hell) the place had it pretty rough. So, during some of my free time near the end of the mission I helped out the fishermen for free and ended up learning how to sail." As he was talking, Naruto fiddled with several seemingly random switches, dials, and buttons.

"While their boats were nowhere near as complicated as this one, the basic controls are similar enough for me to figure it out. By the way, could you flip that for me?" He asked, pointing to a large lever on the wall while he unlocked the helm.

"Sure," Mimi said, grabbing the handle and pulling it down with a grunt. With a distant groan, the engines rumbled to life and with a heavy lurch the whole ship started moving. At the same time, the digimon finished their beatdown on Cockatrimon and tossed the battered, and now featherless, evil digimon overboard, right on top of the pile of unconscious Numemon.

"Thanks for the ship and pillow stuffing!" Palmon yelled out with an armload of giant down feathers after devolving, earning a chorus of laughter from the others and the children that rapidly grew quieter as the ship gained speed and vanished into the distance.

With the vessel successfully captured, the group quickly split up to explore the ship more thoroughly. Tai, Matt, T.K., and their digimon went in search of the dining deck for something to eat. Joe, Gomamon, Tentomon, and Izzy settled on the top deck with the former three relaxing in the cooling water of the pool and the latter back at work on his laptop.

Finally, Mimi and Naruto regrouped with Sora, Biyomon, and Palmon on the cabin deck after the chibi blonde made the max clones he could, which was five, two to man the bridge and the remaining three to watch the engine room once they found it.

"You know, this turned out great." Sora said with a smile as they walked down the hall. "Not only did we end up dealing with a problem before it got to be… well a problem, but now we have a way to travel quickly without having to tire ourselves out walking everywhere."

"Speak for yourself," Naruto panted out tiredly, wiping the sweat from his forehead while snuggling further into Mimi's hold. "You're not the one having to run Sandoraidā (Sand Sailor) by yourself." He was still exhausted from his fight with SkullGreymon, and it had taken what little energy he had recovered to use Kage Bunshin.

"True, good name by the way, it fits." Biyomon said, getting Naruto to smile at her as Mimi walked up to one of the many doors and opened it to reveal the nicely sized bedroom within. It had a large bed near the back, a kitchenette with built in mini-bar, and a lounge area, and an open door leading to a small bathroom.

"Whoa," Mimi muttered in awe as she stepped inside, heading straight for the bed and flopping down on her back with a sigh. "Now this is what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, it certainly is nice," Sora said as she glanced around the room from the doorway. "Especially if the showers work as well, huh Mimi?"

"…"

"Mimi?" Confused when she got no response from the girl on the bed, Sora got closer to see what was wrong, and just barely managed to restrain a fit of giggles. Both Mimi and Naruto were out cold, soft snores escaping their lips. "I guess they were really tired, huh?"

"No kidding, they are completely out of it." Palmon said as she gently shook her partner, which only caused the girl to roll onto her side with a barely coherent grumble and curl up into a ball with Naruto held snuggly in the middle.

"They're not the only ones," Biyomon said with a yawn while rubbing an eye with her wing, "I'm bushed-*grumble* …and hungry."

"It is getting pretty late. Let's go get something to eat and then hit the hay ourselves." Sora said as she glanced out a window to see the rapidly darkening skies. Neither Palmon or Biyomon said anything, simply nodding in agreement before the trio left the room.

-Meanwhile, in the desert-

Cockatrimon gave a pitiful whimper as he regained consciousness and slowly pushed himself up. Coughing a few times, he looked himself over and seethed in rage as he looked over his plucked form in the dying light. "I swear… I will get revenge for this humiliation… even if it's the last thing I ever doOO!" *Thump*

While he had been talking, the giant chicken digimon had tried to stand up, but ended up slipping on the slimy bodies of his underlings and tumble to the ground. Groaning in agony, he started to get up again only to freeze as a certain sound reached his ears.

"Grrrrrrr,"

Confused, Cockatrimon slowly lifted his head towards the source of the noise, his eyes widening in pure terror at what he saw just as the last rays of sunlight vanished. "W-what are… N-no… stay away n-n-no… not l-like this…" He muttered in fear, his eyes darting all over the place while he desperate scrambled backwards until he bumped into the Numemon again. "S-stay back… b-back I say!"

"GRRRRRRR!"

"No! S-stay away from m-me you beasts! Stay away! AAAAAAAGH!" *Squelch* *Crackle* *Squish* *Squ-crunch* *gurgle*

As Cockatrimon's screams died out, they were replaced with the sickening sound of breaking bone, tearing flesh, and a symphony of howls. In the surrounding darkness, all that was visible were absolutely hundreds of glowing red eyes that held nothing but bloodlust.

-End Chapter-

AN: Given how every time these guys run into anything human related it (The phone booths, the mansion/hotel, Deji mart, vending machines, ect.) it ends up being a trap, it honestly baffles me how these guys still kept blindly trusting these obvious traps. Also, what was the point of Cockatrimon's human disguise? The group never saw him in it while boarding and he got rid of it right after that. Finally, I do not know anything about Cruise ships other than what I googled, so if most of what I wrote is wrong then I apologize. Thank you for reading and please review.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 27-

-Last Time-

 _"GRRRRRRR!"_

 _"No! S-stay away from m-me you beasts! Stay away! AAAAAAAGH!" *Squelch* *Crackle* *Squish* *Squ-crunch* *gurgle*_

 _As Cockatrimon's screams died out, they were replaced with the sickening sound of breaking bone, tearing flesh, and a symphony of howls. In the surrounding darkness, all that was visible were absolutely hundreds of glowing red eyes that held nothing but bloodlust._

-And Now-

"Oh, what will we do with a drunken sailor~, what will we do with a drunken sailor~, what will we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning~!" A now normal sized Naruto and a trio of his clones sang cheerily as they managed the controls to the Sandoraidā, each of them henged into different stereotypical pirate outfits.

"Shave his belly with rusty razor~, shave his belly with a rusty razor~, shave his belly with a rusty razor early in the morning~!" Mimi and Palmon sang as well from either side of the original blonde, the former dressed up in a woman's captain uniform while the latter had an eyepatch.

All three had wide smiles on their faces as they broke out in laughter while the clones continued to sing in the background. Off to the side, Izzy watched this all happen with a good-natured roll of his eyes as he tapped away at his laptop, which was currently connected to the ship's main computer. It had been a little over a day since they had 'acquired' the cruise ship from Cockatrimon and it had been nothing but smooth sailing ever since.

They didn't even have to worry about fuel as the ship was entirely electric powered and they had a reliable way to generate it.

\- Sandoraidā Engine room-

"And that's break!" Several groans of relief filled the air as a few dozen shadow clones stepped off of treadmill like machines, surrounded by large amounts of machinery that was hard at work moving the ship. Off to the side, another clone was watching over a screen which showed the current power reserves and consumption rates. "Take thirty you guys."

"Man, why does boss keep us working like this? The batteries are practically full and we have enough power to keep the ship going for a week." One of the clones grumbled as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Because boss might not always be around to make more of us to keep this place going, duh." Another clone stated while stretching his legs.

"That or he gets knocked out… again." A third clone added with a chuckle that was contagious.

"My question is, why the hell is the ship powered this way?" The second clone said/asked, getting shrugs from the rest of the clones. None of them noticed the pile of ruined black cable that lay piled up in the far back, alongside a half-finished order request form.

\- Sandoraidā Bridge-

"Achoo!"

"Bless you," Mimi said as Naruto wiped his nose after a sudden and powerful sneeze.

Nodding in thanks, Naruto quickly grabbed the helm again as it started to deviate and reset the ship's course just as it started to list. "Hey Izzy, how are we doing? We should be getting pretty close by now, right?" He asked while looking towards the computer whiz.

"If my calculations are correct then yes, the crest should be very close." The redhead stated without looking up from his computer. "I'd estimate an hour, maybe an hour and a half, until we arrive at its general location as long as we maintain this course."

"Great, then I'm going to go get something to eat." Naruto said as he swapped out with a clone. "Maintaining all these clones is making me really hungry." As if to emphasize this, Naruto's stomach growled loudly right after he said that, causing him to smile sheepishly as he left.

Barely thirty seconds after he left, Mimi began to get super twitchy and nervous looking. "Oh, you know what, I'm feeling kinda peckish myself." Mimi said quickly as she hurried after the whiskered boy with Palmon, not noticing the analytical, and slightly pitying, look Izzy was giving her on the way by.

' _I'm pretty sure that was the longest amount of time she's stayed been separated from Naruto all day.'_ He thought with a quiet sigh. Mimi was doing a little better than she had been, no longer looking like she was ready to hop out of her own skin at the smallest noise.

But… she still stuck to Naruto's side like glue, always coming up with one excuse after another to ensure that she did. The only exception to this was whenever she or Naruto had to use the restroom, which she would ask him to wait until she was done or remain hovering by the door until he finished his business.

Knowing that there wasn't anything he could do to fix this though, Izzy decided to have another talk with Sora about it later before returning his attention back to his computer, which now displayed an image of Naruto's heart with several different readouts.

Back with Naruto, Mimi and Palmon had just caught up with the blonde and the trio were heading to the dining deck. Along the way, they talked about little things such as what they wanted to eat and how much they were enjoying the ship's amenities.

When they finally arrived at their destination, it was to the sight of Tai, T.K., Matt, and all the other digimon chowing away at a plethora of different foods and drinks. "Sheesh, do you guys ever stop eating?" Naruto asked as he, Mimi, and Palmon took their seats.

"Like you're one to talk, this is like your fourth meal today and its only noon." Tai said between bites.

"Yeah, and I'm also doing almost a hundred things at once to keep the Sandoraidā working, including washing the dishes we're eating off of." Naruto retorted dully while jabbing his thumb over to where a clone was dragging off a cart of dirty dishes. "Do you know how much chakra it takes to keep so many clones going for so long?"

He may have a huge amount of the stuff, but it wasn't endless, and he had clones all over the ship maintaining the engines, manning the bridge, acting as lookouts, repairing the damage they'd done while taking the ship, and doing general cleaning. That's not to mention that without the Kyuubi's chakra gradually siphoning into his own reserves anymore, it took almost twice as long for them to refill than it used to.

"What have you been doing exactly to work up an appetite, huh?" Naruto asked bluntly, getting the goggle wearing boy to smile nervously while scratching the back of his head.

The only ones that had been helping Naruto with anything were Joe, who'd been doing some of the cooking, Sora, with the fix-up, Izzy, computer stuff duh, and Mimi, who did her best to help the real Naruto with what he was doing at the time. The rest had been goofing off or relaxing, with the digimon getting a free pass since they had to do all the fighting.

"…I'll just shut up now."

Naruto smirked victoriously while grabbing himself a big bowl of ramen. "That's what I thought."

"You know, I'm surprised you're not kicking back, Mimi." Matt stated while looking at the girl with mild curiosity. "You were always going about it when we were walking, yet now that you have the chance you're doing anything but relaxing."

This statement caused everyone else to blink in realization before turning to the naval garbed girl, who was currently imitating Tai's early expression "W-well, I have tried a couple of times, but after a few m-minutes I start to feel so restless that I have to do something." Mimi 'admitted' nervously as she helped herself to a plate of sushi, stuttering a tiny bit as she spoke.

"Oh, I know that feeling, I get it all the time whenever I was in class or stuck in the hospital." Naruto said with a nod as his face scrunched up in thought. "One of the nurses said I had cabinet fever and something about unconscious remembering thingy with muscles."

"I think you mean cabin fever and muscle memory," Matt said as Naruto chuckled sheepishly, before turning his attention back to Mimi. "And that does make sense, you've probably gotten so used to moving around now that it's become almost habitual."

"Y-yeah, that must be it." Mimi murmured with a soft sigh as everyone went back to their food, glad that she wasn't the center of attention anymore. However, just as she started to fully relax and enjoy her food, a clone came charging in with a frantic look on it's face.

"Boss! We have incoming gaining on the stern! And I'm positive they are not friendly!" It yelled, getting everyone to shoot up from their seats in alarm.

"Got it! Go warn the others!" Naruto ordered, getting a salute from the clone as it shot off before he turned to the others. "Why the hell do you guys keep just standing around like that when this stuff happens?! Get moving already!"

Startled by the whiskered boy's sharp words, the digidestined and digimon quickly sprung into action, scrambling away from the table and towards the doors. Being the fastest of them all, Naruto easily overtook the rest and in only a few seconds reach the top deck.

Not wasting a second, he jumped to the back of the ship while wordlessly accepting a pair of binoculars from one of his doppelgangers and focused them towards where a large dust cloud could be seen steadily gaining with the ship. As soon as he got sight of what was coming though, his eyes widened in shock before narrowing as he grit his teeth.

"Kuso, looks like those guys weren't limited to just the snow storm after all." Dozens upon dozens of familiar looking wolves were sprinting at absurd speeds towards them. However, unlike the ones they had encountered in the blizzard which were made of ice and snow, these were made of various mixtures of rock, dirt, and sand.

Not only that, but their sizes were varied greatly, with some being roughly the same size as the ice wolves while the rest were anywhere from twice as big to eight or nine times larger. The only thing that all of them had in common were their eyes, which were glowing crimson orbs of bloodlust that Naruto easily recognized.

"So, that's how you want to play huh Kyuubi." He muttered while tossing the binoculars back to the clone and digivolving into Teumesemon. The fire around his tails flared out before condensing into three moderate sized fireballs. "Then let's play, Seirei-en no Dangan!"

With an almost casual flick of his fluffy limbs, the trio of blue flames were launched through the air and soared in an arcing path towards the approaching enemies. Upon impact, they exploded violently, gouging deep holes into the ground and sending sand flying.

Unfortunately, most of the wolves were able to maneuver out of the way of the blast radiuses and only three or four actually getting damaged or destroyed. Not deterred in the slightest, Naruto kept firing, only this time going for a plethora of smaller but dramatically faster blasts, that while not doing nearly as much damage at least managed to hit their targets.

"Oh man, these guys again? I thought we left back in the blizzard." Ikkakumon grumbled as he and the other now digivolved digimon, except Patamon, joined the blonde in attacking.

" _Howling blaster_! Looks like we were wrong." Garurumon said while breathing out a torrent of sapphire flames, before growling quietly when one of the larger wolves blocked it without barely any effort. The rest followed suit and soon all the smaller stone beasts were hidden behind their larger companions whom continued to tank the incoming attacks as they drew closer. "They're definitely smarter and tougher than last time, we're barely doing anything."

"He's right, they're way too agile for us to take out this way, we're just wasting energy." Kabuterimon said as he stopped attacking.

"Damnit," Naruto swore under his breath and let his tails lower when he saw this was true. "Alright then, we need a plan." He said before blinking in surprise when all the digimon looked at him expectantly. "What?"

"We're waiting for the plan." Greymon stated like it was most obvious thing.

"Yeah, now come on, those guys aren't getting any further. What is it already?" Ikkakumon demanded impatiently.

"You think I have a plan?" Naruto asked incredulously, honestly surprised that they expected him to know what to do. He may not like to admit it, but he was well aware that he wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch and tended to act stupidly some… most of the time.

"If you don't, then I'm sure you will soon. You haven't let us down yet." Garurumon said confidently, getting the whiskered boy to stare at him in astonishment.

"Uh, um well," Naruto stumbled on his words as he felt a warm feeling in his chest, and it had nothing to do with the gear shard. However, spotting the incoming threat once more in the corner of his eye, he shook his head few times to clear his thoughts.

"Ok, we can't take them out at range, so we'll have to let them get closer." He muttered while rubbing his chin in thought. "Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Patamon, you guys go back to the others and make sure they stay safe, get ready to get them clear if things get hairy. Everyone else spread out along the sides of the ship and wait until their close enough to hit properly. Focus on taking out the big ones and leave the small fry to my clones unless to many get aboard."

Almost immediately after he was done talking, the digimon went off to do what he said, thus preventing them from seeing the incredibly nervous look on his face. ' _So this is what being a team leader feels like.'_ He thought while trying to calm himself down with several deep breaths. 'O _h Kami_ , _I really owe Kakashi-sensei an apology when I get back.'_

Once he managed to get his heart to stop trying to burst from his chest, the blonde stretched a bit before grabbing a rope that was lying around nearby and tying it around his waist. "Now, back to being an idiot." He said while leaping off the back of the Sandoraidā and flying straight towards one of the largest earthen canines, which was made mostly of dull yellow sandstone with sandy dirt acting for the joints.

"Here boy! Catch!" He shouted as he spun around in mid-air and slammed his tails into the side of the thirty-foot-tall wolf's snout with a loud *Crack*. The force of the blow caused the beast's head to snap to the side as a large chunk of its upper jaw was caved in.

Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, Naruto latched onto the wolf's forehead and buried a flaming Rasengan right between its eyes. A smirk crossed his lips as the deadly sphere swiftly ground its face into dust before exploding, sending him flying back to the ship.

Landing on the railing, he got ready for another leap, only to stop as he saw the now headless wolf golem still moving and even… regenerating?

"Oh, that's just fucking perfect. As if this wasn't going to be annoying enough already." He groaned as the giant wolf's face reformed with an angry snarl, though it was at least five feet shorter than it was before.

"GRRAAAA!" The beast roared as it sprinted even faster and rammed into the back of the ship, causing the entire thing to shake violently.

"OI! Bad dog! Stop that! I just got this boat!" Naruto yelled angrily, only to be ignored as the wolf tried to bite him in half. Narrowly dodging out of the way of the still pretty massive jaws, the foxy blonde rolled to the side and stabbed his hands into the soft dirt that made up the beast's neck.

"I hope you aren't too attached to this face, because I'm taking it!" Naruto said before literally ripping the stone canine's head clean off with a single vicious tug. Chuckling a little as he saw the once again headless body stumble back, and accidentally squash several of the smaller ones in the process, Naruto gave the now inanimate chunk of rock in his arms a look of mock consideration.

"Hmm, you know what, not really my style." He said while readjusting his grip slightly and sending the still recovering monster a wicked grin. "Here, you can have it back!" With a small huff of effort, he hurled the head straight at its owner at high speed, causing both to shatter into pieces upon impact. "Who's next?"

-Meanwhile-

"Geez, remind me never to get on Naruto's bad side." Joe said as he and the rest of the kids watched all the fights going on from the top of the raised decks at the front of the Sandoraidā while Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Patamon stood around them protectively.

"No kidding, I thought Ikkakumon was being brutal but that takes the cake." Tai stated, his eyes glancing over to the giant seal digimon as he fired a torpedo into both of a granite wolf's eyes, then several more straight down it's gullet when it roared in agony.

Similar scenes were playing all across the ship, such as Togemon smashing in one of the wolf's faces in, or Greymon blasting two wolves into dust at once with his 'Nova Flame'. The same time, Naruto's clones were weaving in and out, tearing apart the smaller wolves that managed to get aboard by either scaling the ships hull or hitching a ride on their larger counterparts.

"Uh guys," Matt started as he watched the almost completely one-sided massacre. "Not to be a downer or anything, but am I the only one who feels like this is going a bit too well?"

"…Say what now?" Tai asked while the whole group turned their focus onto the dirty blonde.

"I don't know why, but something about this whole thing just feels off." Matt muttered, his eyes continually flickering around the ship before jumping slightly when Sora placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Matt, I'm sure you're just being- *CRASKCH* " **SURPRIIIIIISE, YEAH!** " …paranoid." Sora finished weakly as her eyes widened in horror as the ground in front of the ship exploded outwards and a dreadfully familiar voice rang out.

Out of the clouds of sand, a massive stone version of Etemon emerged, a wide smirk on its face as it towered over their ship. " **HELLO DIGIDESTINED! DID YOU MISS ME!?** "

"You were saying?"

"Shut up."

-End Chapter-


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon series. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 28-

-Last Time-

 _"Come on Matt, I'm sure you're just being- *CRASKCH* "_ _ **SURPRIIIIIISE, YEAH**_ _!" …paranoid." Sora finished weakly as her eyes widened in horror as the ground in front of the ship exploded outwards and a dreadfully familiar voice rang out._

 _Out of the clouds of sand, a massive stone version of Etemon emerged, a wide smirk on its face as it towered over their ship. "_ _ **HELLO DIGIDESTINED! DID YOU MISS ME**_ _!?"_

 _"You were saying?"_

 _"Shut up."_

-And Now-

"Hold on to something!" Naruto yelled as the cruise ship swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding the massive stone fist that crashed down beside it. Even so, the concussive force of the blow alone caused the entire boat to shake violently and nearly overturn.

"AHHH!"

"Sora!" "Matt!" Birdramon and T.K. yelled, unable to do anything but watch in horror as the said duo were knocked off their feet and sent tumbling off the edge of the roof. Thankfully, neither went far as a pair of clones leapt up and caught them midair.

"Everyone grab a clone, we need to get you out of here!" One of the clones yelled as they and a dozen more landed around them protectively. The children and Patamon did what they were told, hurrying to the closest blonde they could reach where they promptly scooped up and rushed to cover.

Once they were gone, one of the remaining clones turned his attention to the two flying digimon. "Kabuterimon, help Ikkakumon and Togemon with the wolves, keep them off our ass as best as you can. Birdramon, knowing Boss, he's gonna need some air support as well."

"I'm on it!"

"Understood."

-Meanwhile-

"Damnit, should have known that something like this would happen." Naruto muttered through gritted teeth, his hands digging gouges into the metal railing as he stared up at the stone ape before him. "It happens every time things seem to be going to plan, every Kami damned time."

Not only did they have attacks coming from two fronts now, but the Sandoraidā was effectively trapped thanks to the sand swirling around the fake Etemon like a whirlpool, trapping them in a loop. It did take care of a few of the stone wolves for them, but most of them had been wise enough to jump onto the back of their larger brethren beforehand.

" **So, how do you like my new toy TitanEtemon, it's almost like I'm really here huh? I think it really emphasizes on my naturally chiseled physique, uh-huh."** TitanEtemon punned with a grin as his giant double flexed before returning his attention back to the boat with a wicked grin. " **Now to give it a full test run.** "

-Play: He's a Pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean) or preferred battle music)-

With this said, the stone ape balled up one of his fists before swinging it down towards the ship.

"Oh no you don't! Seirei-en Rasengan!" A flaming sphere appeared in each of Naruto's hands in the blink of an eye as he crouched slightly before leaping straight at the incoming blow, leaving a trail of blue fire behind him as he flew through the air.

*Krakaboom*

The moment the two met midair, a deafening blast filled the air as stone and fire clashed, battling for supremacy. After only a few seconds though, the duel ended in a draw as the Rasengans ran out of steam and detonated, launching Naruto back into the air while TitanEtemon's fist crashed harmlessly into the sand, a large divot missing from the front of it.

"That was close," Naruto said with a sigh while pulling on the rope on his waist to bring himself to safety…

*Snap*

…before feeling a sense of dread to wash over him as his literal lifeline snapped from the strain.

"Oh kuso," He muttered, glaring at the broken rope in his hand. Falling fast, he tried to think of anything he could do to get himself out of his current situation, only to end up drawing a big fat blank. Left with no other options, he did the only thing he could. "Help!"

"I gotcha!" Thankfully, his salvation came in the form of a large flaming bird as Birdramon flew by and caught Naruto with her talons.

"Thanks for the save." Naruto said while clambering up the digimon's leg and settled onto her back.

"Anytime," Birdramon said while tucking her wings in and diving, just in time to avoid the giant hand that tried to swat them out of the air. She then had to make a sharp side turn to dodge a karate chop before ascending out of the way when the hand jabbed outwards. "I think we got his attention."

"Good, now to keep it that way." Naruto said, his tail flames flaring up as he got ready to attack. "We cannot let him hit the Sandoraidā or everyone else is screwed."

"Alright, then hold on tight. _Meteor Wing!_ " The phoenix-like digimon called, a barrage of reddish-orange flames shooting from the underside of her wings at TitanEtemon while weaving around his punches, jabs, and swings.

" **Damnit! Hold still you pests and accept your deaths like a mon!** " TitanEtemon yelled angrily as he tried and failed once again to hit the flying pair.

"Pass you stupid monkey! Seirei-en no Dangan!" Naruto called out, peppering the giant's face and chest with numerous fireballs that chipped off small chunks stone and earth. At the same time, Greymon and Garurumon fired at his waist to similar affect.

" **Hahahahah! Is that the best you can do?!** " TitanEtemon mocked as the statue casually dusted himself off before renewing his attempts to swat Birdramon. When one of the punches got close though, Naruto latched onto the limb as it passed and ran up it while dragging a Seirei-en Rasengan across the surface, leaving a long shallow trench in the stone.

" **OI! Stop that! You're ruining the finish!** " The giant stone ape hollered while clapping his hand over his shoulder, only to miss Naruto when he leapt on the offending hand. The whiskered blonde then used the appendage as a springboard to leap towards the statues face and smashed his attack against his cheek.

" **AAAARG!** " TitanEtemon yelled while smacking itself in the face as Naruto used the recoil from the attack to launch himself out of the way and back onto Birdramon's back. Feeling the crumbled stone under his hand, the giant howled in rage. " **NOOOO! My beautiful jawline!** "

"We're not doing enough damage." Birdramon said while swerving out of the way of several blind swings.

"Oh really, I hadn't noticed." Naruto said sarcastically even as he looked over the raging ape golem over as thoroughly as he could. As he did so, he noticed that the damage they had dealt wasn't healing like with the wolves and that his attacked slowed down quite a bit whenever he had to move his legs. "I have an idea! It's risky and we'll only get one shot but it should at least stun this thing long enough for us to get away."

"If it means we can stop playing cat and mouse with this guy, then I'm all in. What do you have in mind?" Birdramon asked.

"Just get me as close as you can to its legs and be ready to attack on my mark." Naruto replied as he formed an overly large Rasengan in his hands and formed a ring around it with his tail tips.

"You got it, here goes nothing." The bird digimon said before going into a spiraling dive, narrowly avoiding a flurry of rage fueled punches and swipes. Passing below the torso, she made a sharp turn which allowed her to dodge the rest of the stone giant's attacks as she got behind it briefly.

" **Ohoho! Looks like someone is starting to tire out!** " TitanEtemon bellowed with a wicked grin, thinking that they were retreating due to exhaustion since they'd stopped attacking. " **Well then, how about you take a nice dirt nap, yeah!** " He added while turning to face them again before renewing his attacks in earnest.

"Aahg!" Birdramon cried out as one of the punches finally managed to hit her, though it was thankfully only a glancing blow to one of her wings.

"Are you alright Birdramon?" Naruto asked in concern, sweat pouring from his brow as he poured as much power into his attack as he could.

"I'll live but I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." The fire bird said, her whole body wobbling slightly now as she flew. "This plan of your better work or we're both toast."

"Well, we're about to find out," Naruto said as they circled around the legs, before he suddenly flipped himself underneath her and held tightly onto one of her legs with one hand while firmly clutching the miniature blue sun he'd made in the other. "Fire!"

" _Meteor Wing!_ " Birdramon called out without hesitation as she flapped her wings, unleashing a fresh barrage of fire streams. However, much to her surprise, instead of flying out towards the legs like she had intended, the flames were suddenly sucked towards and then into the sphere in Naruto's grasp, making it turn a vibrant violet color.

"Fenikkusu san no seishin! (Spirit of the Phoenix Sun!)" Naruto called before hurling the attack straight at TitanEtemon's left knee. "MOVE!"

Birdramon didn't even bother saying anything as she simple turned around and booked it as fast as she could to the Sandoraidā.

" **HA! You must be really stupid if you think that puny attack will hurt this creation, uh-huh!"** TitanEtemon said with a bellowing laugh as he saw the small glowing ball heading towards him. " **That thing won't even make a crack in my handso-"**

-Stop Music-

 ***** KRAKABOOOOOOOOOM*

The ape golem was cut off as the attack collided with his leg and lit the whole place up like the fourth of July. A deafening roar filled the air as a visible wave of sound tore through the air, flattening the ground and kicking up even more dust and sand.

"This is gonna be rough!" Birdramon yelled as the shockwave quickly overtook the airborne duo, buffeting them in all directions with wind and sand. Unable to see or fly properly, the flaming bird tucked her legs in before wrapping her wings around herself and Naruto protectively as they plummeted.

By some miracle, they managed to end up crash-landing straight onto the Sandoraidā's main deck, skipping twice across the floor before coming to an abrupt stop when they collided with the railing on the opposite side.

When the dust settled, it revealed Biyomon and Naruto, back in his Kitsumon form, groaning as they slowly got up from the cracked deck. "Uuuuh… that was a lot bigger than I thought it would be." Naruto muttered as he realigned his back with a loud *crack*. "Are you okay Biyomon?"

"Ow, I… ah, I think my wing is broken." The pink bird admitted while cradling the limp appendage, flinching in pain whenever it shifted in her grasp.

"Kuso, here I got you," Naruto said as he knelt, tore of his shirt, and ripped off two poles from the railing before using the material to make a makeshift splint for Biyomon's wing.

As he was doing this, the whiskered blonde could hear the sounds of combat still coming from the back of the ship. He also saw Garurumon and Greymon across from them with their attention switching from checking on them to the rapidly dissipating cloud of dust in the center of the still spinning sand whirlpool.

Oddly enough though, not a single clone was to be seen much to his confusion as he could still feel the pull of his chakra telling him that most of them hadn't been dispelled yet.

-Play Villain Music-

" **AHAHA!"**

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Naruto growled as TitanEtemon's head slowly came back into view with a deep booming laugh.

" **I told you a pathetic attack like that wouldn't harm my toy!** " The stone giant said boisterously as it started to dust itself off. " **In fact, I'm frankly… quite… insulted...** "

-Que Record Scratch-

TitanEtemon trailed off from his boasting as the rest of the sand cloud cleared, revealing the fact that his entire left leg and just a little over half his right were nothing more than a pile of smoldering rubble.

As he stood there staring at the devastation in shock, TitanEtemon's look of horror grew as cracks rapidly spread across what remained of his right leg. "… **Ah crap.** " He muttered before the limb finally gave out entirely and he toppled over sideways.

Crashing to the ground with enough force to rock the entire region (again), the rock ape barely managed to catch himself with his hands as chunks of stone and earth broke free all over its body from the impact. Slowly pushing himself back up, TitanEtemon glared at the boat with utmost contempt as he tried to say something, only for a sputtered mess to come out thanks to his lower jaw falling apart.

Naruto was more focused on the crippled giant's chest though, where he could now see parts of a large red crystal poking out through a newly formed hole. ' _That must be that things power source!'_ He wasn't the only one to come to this conclusion either as Greymon and Garurumon wasted no time blasting at that area with everything they had.

Seeing that they had it covered for now, Naruto returned his attention to Biyomon as he finished up the splint. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a candy bar he'd been saving for later before tearing it in half and giving part to the pink bird digimon. "Here, best get something down while you can, this isn't over yet."

"Thanks, I'm starvING." Biyomon squawked out midbite when Naruto suddenly scooped her up and placed her on his shoulders.

"Hold on tight and watch my back." Naruto said before sprinting at top speed towards the stern. Even in his tired state, it only took the foxy boy half a minute to get there, and half of that was because of the various debris and damage littering the deck he had to avoid.

However, upon reaching the back of the Sandoraidā, Naruto came to a literal screeching halt at the sight before him.

As he expected, Togemon, Ikkakumon, and Kabuterimon were there fighting off the last two giant wolves while his clones dealt with the smaller ones that managed to hop aboard. What he wasn't expecting, was to see a beat up looking Tai, Matt, Mimi, and Sora fighting amongst the clones wielding makeshift clubs and kunai while a group of clones huddled tightly around Joe, T.K., and Izzy as the former two patched up a severe bite on the latter's shoulder.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Naruto demanded while grabbing the nearest clone. "I told you guys to get them to safety in the cargo hold!"

"Sorry Boss, but we ran into a few complications along the way!"

-End Chapter-

An: Really sorry about the cliffhanger, this chapter used to be twice as long but I forgot to pay attention to the battery level on my computer and it ended up dying before I saved. I patched this up as best I could but I'm still in the middle of moving and job hunting so I don't have the time I'd like to work on it. I promise I'll try to make it up on the next update. Thank you for reading and please review.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 29-

-Last Time-

 _"What the hell is going on here?!" Naruto demanded while grabbing the nearest clone. "I told you guys to get them to safety in the cargo hold!"_

 _"Sorry Boss, but we ran into a few complications along the way!"_

-And Now, Fifteen Minutes Earlier-

"Everyone grab a clone, we need to get you out of here!" One of the clones yelled as they and a dozen more landed around them protectively. The children and Patamon did what they were told, hurrying to the closest blonde they could reach where they promptly scooped up.

Carefully avoiding all the chaos that was erupting everywhere, the clones rushed below deck and regathered in the kitchen. "Alright everyone, there's a chance that some of the wolves got below deck as well, and we can't carry you and fight them off at the same time." One of the clones said to the children as they were set down. "That means we're going to have to walk it. I want all of you to be on guard and stay together at all times."

"Uh, excuse me, but where are we going?" T.K. asked with a raised hand.

"The cargo hold, it has the thickest walls of the entire ship, and in case the worst comes to be there's an emergency exit shaft built in with an escape raft." The clone said bluntly as he and the other clones formed a protective circle around the group. "Now stay together, keep your guards up, and your eyes peeled."

Not waiting for a response, the clone signaled to his brethren and the group were off, marching into the hallway in a coordinated manner with each of the whiskered blondes keeping a keen eye on their surroundings.

At first everything seemed to be going fine, other than a bit of jostling as the ship shook, and they were making good progress towards their destination, but ended up running into a snag halfway there.

"Ah crap, looks like the wolves are down here after all," The lead clone as the group stared at the destroyed hallway, several holes having been clawed through the floor, ceiling, and walls. "And we just finished buffing this section to."

"Like that's the important problem right now," Matt said sarcastically while eyeing the gaps dubiously. "I don't like this, we should take a different route."

"I agree, I can hear those bastards nearby," Naruto muttered while his ears twitched slightly.

"How about we try cutting through the main boiler room on deck C instead." Mimi suggested, causing everyone but the clones and Izzy to look at her in surprise.

"Good idea Mimi, then we can just take the cargo lift straight down." The lead clone said with a grin before turning to everyone else and motioning for them to head to a corridor on the left. "What are you guys waiting for, we don't have time to doddle, double time!"

Snapping out of their surprise from the copy's urging, the group broke out into a jog as they hurried across the ship.

However, several twists, turns, more shaking, and a short flight of stairs later, their plan hit yet another snag as they reached the main boilers and found the room filled to the brim with steam.

"Double crap, something must've ruptured the pipes." C. Naruto said with an annoyed growl, wiping the perspiration that was already starting to build on his forehead from the hot mist. "I can barely see, hear, or smell a thing in there."

"Great, just great, we avoid one possible ambush for an even more likely ambush." Joe said while drooping.

"Another route then?" Tai suggested, only for both the clone and Mimi to shake their heads.

"We'd have to backtrack almost half the ship-"

"-Or risk going abovedeck, both of which are terrible options." Mimi started and C. Naruto finished, earning themselves more odd looks.

' _I don't know if that was incredibly cute or extremely worrying,'_ Sora thought, sending a concerned look towards Izzy who nodded in understanding as similar thoughts played through his own head.

"We'll just have to keep going… and hope the leaks were from all this shaking." The lead clone muttered with a frown. "I recommend you guys cover as much exposed skin as you can, it may be a bit stuffy but trust me, a direct blast from one of those leaks will sting like a meinu."

"Oh great, and here I was worried about sunburn." Tai muttered while T.K. shuffled nervously as they and Matt looked down at themselves, or more specifically the only article of clothing they were wearing, swimming trunks.

"Yeah, you three best stay in the middle of the group just to be on the safe side." The clone nearest to them said, getting the three to nod in agreement, albeit reluctantly in Tai and Matt's case. Meanwhile the rest of the kids covered as much as they could with their current clothing, which sadly wasn't much as everyone but Mimi were dressed up in casual clothes like tee-shirts and shorts.

"I'd just like to note that this is probably a terrible idea." Joe said, jumping a little when the hissing sound of steam escaping rang out.

"Well every other option is just as bad if not worse, so you'll just have to buck up and deal with it." C. Naruto told the slightly hypochondria prone boy, causing him to slump in depression.

"So just like usual then."

"Yeah, pretty much."

With their pieces said, the group cautiously stepped into the steam filled room, their eyes squinting mostly shut reflexively to protect them from the hot mist.

All the clones were on high alert, scanning around for any sign of danger with kunai posed and ready to strike. However, no matter how hard they tried, none of them could see more than two or three feet in any direction, and the steam was diluting any scents into incoherent messes that made little to no sense.

Despite this though, everything seemed to be going well as they proceeded onwards, other than the occasion slip on the wet floor and close calls with steam blasts.

"Jeez, how far do we have to go? This place is sweltering." Sora panted after a minute or so, shaking her shirt in a vain attempt to get the condensation buildup off as it soaked into the fabric.

"I think we're about halfway there." Mimi said while wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Seriously?" Tai asked incredulously. "This place can't be that large, can it?"

"How else do you think this ship handles three hundred showers, forty adjustable hot tubs, two pools, and boss's personal jacuzzi?" One of the clones asked back with a raised brow.

"Oh, well when you put it like that it makes seeee… Hey! Why do you get your own Jacuzzi?!"

"Because Boss is the captain, and captain get's first dibs." The clone said with a cheeky grin while Tai grumbled about unfairness.

*Click* *Clatter* "…grrr…"

"Stop!" The lead clone whisper yelled with his hand raised, causing everyone to freeze mid-step. "Close up perimeter! Patamon front and center!"

His orders were complete in seconds as the rest of the clones pushed the group tighter together until there were no gaps between their defensive circle while Patamon landed on the lead clone's shoulder.

"What's up?" The small orange digimon asked.

"We have company, can you to see if you can clear some of this kuso with a low powered bubble thingy or yours?" C. Naruto asked quietly even as his eyes roamed through the foggy room.

"Sure, _Boom Bubble!_ " Patamon called, his whole body inflating like a balloon before he expelled a large ball of condensed air out of his mouth. Unlike when he normally used that attack though, the compressed air only went a few feet before bursting outwards.

With a soft whooshing sound, the escaping wind parted the steam slightly, not much but enough to reveal the quintet of stone wolves that were previously hidden within it quietly snarling at them.

"Kuso," The clone muttered as the wolves charged before the steam filled back in and everything vanished from view. "Brace yourself!"

"GRAAAAH!"

"Dammit! I can see anything!"

*Poof* *Crackle*

"Where are they?!"

"I don't kno-"

*Poof* *Crackle* *Poof*

"They're everywhere!"

"We can't hold them off!"

*Crackle* *Poof* *Crackle*

"Fall back! Fall back!"

Moments later, the kids and seven remaining clones burst out of the steam from the way they had come with several dozen stone wolves hot on their tails.

"Alright, forget the cargo bay! Head for the kitchen and take shelter in the food locker!" One clone yelled before he and three other duplicates suddenly stopped and turned back towards the wolves. " _Diamond Storm!"_

Firing the attacks at the same time, the normally dangerous attack turned into an absolute devastating assault as thousands of razor sharp crystals flew through the air, shredding through over half the charging canine golems, damaging a few others, and hindering the rest from getting forward. On the down side however, the clones exhausted all of their chakra with that move and ended up dispersing into puffs of smoke.

Not only that, but they had also ended up inflicting loads of collateral damage to the surrounding area and several crystals flew into the still open boiler, causing a large explosion that rocked the entire ship.

"Holy crap!" Joe yelled as he and the rest of the digidestined struggled to keep on their feet. "That can't be good!"

"If we were on water, no it would not since we would be sinking. Thankfully we aren't." Izzy said while helping the nervous boy to stand.

"Yeah, now it just means more work for us and Boss when this is all over." A clone grumbled as Mimi clung to his side. "Now stop panicking and get your ass in gear before I punt you the rest of the way!"

"Alright, alright, no need to… LOOKOUT!" Joe suddenly yelled while pushing Izzy away just as a wolf flew past where the tech genius had been standing… and sunk its teeth straight into Joe's shoulder. "AAAAAAGH!"

"Kuso!" Acting quickly, the clones rushed to the boy's side and restrained the wolf while prying its mouth open. Joe cried out once more as the earthen creature's jagged teeth were pulled out of his flesh before collapsing to the floor once they were completely free.

"Aaah! Fuck! Fuck! FUUUCK!" He cursed while clutching his shoulder, blood seeping between his fingers.

"Easy there Joe. Easy. We got you." Tai said as he and Izzy pulled the older boy out of the way and helped him to his feet.

"The bite is really deep, we need to get him help now." Izzy said worriedly while applying pressure to the wound.

"How? The medical bay is on the other side of that?" Mimi said while pointing to the burning and destroyed hallway behind them.

"Oi!" One of the clones cut in, drawing attention back to the trio of blondes struggling to keep the stone wolf subdued without getting popped. "Could somebody kill this fucking thing already! We can't hold it much longer!"

"I got it." Matt said, picking up a large piece of broken pipe off the floor and using it to smash the golem's head apart, leaving the rest to crumble into a harmless pile of dirt and rocks.

"Took you long enough," A clone grumbled while dusting himself off. "Come on, we're going back up deck."

"Uh, didn't you say something like that was extremely suicidal just a few minutes ago?" Sora asked with a raised brow.

"And it is, but staying down here just got even more risky." The clone said bluntly. "There are most likely several more of those little bastards all over the ship by now and there's no way the three of us and Patamon will be able to fend them all off."

"Hoi! We aren't defenseless you know." Tai said in an annoyed tone, to which C. Naruto responded with a dull look. "We aren't!"

"I'm not saying that you are Tai, but those things are basically rabid dogs on steroids. They would tear you apart before you even realized what happened without hesitation." The clone stated bluntly in a matter-of-fact tone that made the goggle-headed boy recoil. "Besides, the other clones will be able to get the supplies we need to patch up Joe, preferably before he bleeds out."

"…Yeah… definitely before then…" Said boy groaned, his face already extremely pale from blood loss.

-Present-

"Then they came back up here and we got Joe some bandages." A clone finished explaining to the original who had a deadpan expression. "We sent down a platoon to extinguish the fires and access the extent of the damage and how bad our little infestation is."

"And?"

"The boiler's a bit messed up but fixable boss, decks C and D are badly damaged, and every other deck below that is crawling with these damn things. The little bastards were breaking in through the lower portholes."

"Wonderful," Naruto muttered with a sigh before turning serious once more. "Good job, now let's find a way out of this mess already."

"We're way ahead of you Boss, but first we need to do a little fishing." The clone said while pointing over his shoulder, causing the real Naruto to look curiously before smiling widely.

"Ah, that could work, tell me more."

Meanwhile, TitanEtemon garbled incoherently as it was repeatedly blasted with blue and orange waves of fire that caused the crystal in its chest to fracture. With each blow the cracks spread further and soon the gem was barely held together, it's once bright crimson glow now barely flickering to life.

"He's almost down, one more good hit should do it." Garurumon said confidently, even as his breath came out slightly raggedly.

"Then let's make it count." An equally tired Greymon said before both inhaled deeply. " _Nova Flame!"_

" _Howling Blaster!"_

Taking inspiration from what Naruto and Biyomon had done, the two fired their attacks right next to each-other, causing the powerful blue and orange flames to mix together into a maelstrom of fiery death that struck the crumbling goliath.

The cracked rock lasted exactly one second before succumbing, allowing the vortex of fire to tear clean through its chest with an ear-wrenching screech. Once the attack died down, TitanEtemon stared at them with the best look of shock its mangled face could managed as it grasped at the gaping hole where its 'heart' used to be.

With each movement it made, cracks rapidly spread across what remained of the giant's body until it eventually just started falling apart, crumbling away into a massive pile of rocks and sand.

"Ugh, finally, I was starting to think he'd never die." A now devolved Gabumon grumbled as he and Agumon fell onto their rears.

"I know right, he was as stubborn as a rock." The orange lizard digimon punned with a tired grin, earning a quiet chuckle from his companion.

However, that humor quickly died away when both digimon noticed something.

"Uh, is it just me or is that going even faster now?" Agumon asked as he pointed towards the still spiraling whirlpool of sand that promptly sucked down the remains of TitanEtemon.

"…Uh-oh."

Back at the… back, Naruto, the rest of the digimon, and the digidestined watched in relief as the remaining wolf golems suddenly fell to pieces.

"Well, that was convenient," Naruto said before signaling his clones to spread out and search the ship, just to be safe. "You still alive Joe?"

"Barely," Joe groaned while gently grasping his freshly shoulder.

"Better than nothing, how about you guys?" Naruto asked while turning towards Palmon, Tentomon, and Gomamon as the trio walked towards them and Biyomon who was being checked over by Sora.

"Tired, hungry, and in real need of a bath but otherwise fine." The plant digimon said, waving off the blonde's concern.

"I'll be fine." Biyomon stated with a smile before wincing when she tried to wave with her broken wing.

"Agumon and Gabumon are also alright Boss." A clone yelled from above. "Also, the sand vortex is starting to destabilize like you thought it would, I suggest we try plan 'Get the hell out of here' before it's too late."

"Got it, I'm on my way." Naruto called back as he started heading to the front of the Sandoraidā.

"Hey, mind filling us in on this plan of yours?" Tai asked as the rest digidestined and their digimon followed the whiskered blonde.

"I'm pretty sure the name says it all." Naruto said jokingly without missing a single step.

"Okay smart-aleck, ' _how'_ do you intend to do that?" Matt asked with a good-natured roll of his eyes.

"Simple, we need to get out of here before that pit over there sucks us in all the way," Naruto started as they reached the front of the ship where a bunch of clones were just finishing pulling the anchor onto the deck, "So I'm going to fish us out."

…

"Huh?" Everybody said at the same time.

*Sigh* "Just stand back and watch." The whiskered blonde muttered while digivolving back to his Teumesemon form and grabbing the top of the large metal hook. " _What a waste of a perfectly good one-liner."_

Eyeing the edge of the sand whirlpool carefully, Naruto's gaze narrowed when he saw a glimpse of green before he spun around several times and hurled the anchor with a grunt. The digidestined and digimon watched in awe as the giant hook soared through the air several hundred yards until it collided with a massive cactus in the distance, embedding itself deeply into the spiny plant.

"Brace yourselves!" Naruto yelled as the chain connecting the anchor to the ship went taunt, causing the entire vessel to pivot from the sudden resistance. "Alrighty boys, I got something, now reel her in!"

"Hai Boss!" His clones cheered while operating the winch, slowly pulling the cruise ship out of danger.

"Dude, could you give us a little more warning before you do something like that? Me and T.K. almost got thrown overboard." Matt said angrily as he and the rest of the digidestined got back to their feet.

"Really, I thought it was kinda obvious what was going on." Naruto said with a raised brow.

"Uh, guys, we might want to take cover." Izzy cut in, nervously eyeing the sand whirlpool as it rumbled ominously. "If my math is right, the material that is being suctioned into that vortex is about to reach critical levels of compression which will most likely result in a high intensity expansive reaction."

"In english Izzy?" Tai asked dully.

"It's probably going to blow up and shoot sand everywhere." The computer genius simplified bluntly while not so slowly backing up towards the doorway leading into the ship.

"Oh…" A brief silence fell over the group after these words before everyone but Naruto's clones booked it inside. Not a second to soon either as the vortex it suddenly stopped and the loose sand started roiling rapidly.

*BOOOOOM*

Sand and rocks were sent flying skywards at high speed as the sandpit exploded upwards, creating a cloud of dust that rapidly expanded outwards. It only took a few moments for the newly created sandstorm to engulf the Sandoraidā, the powerful winds of rock particles scraping over it like super coarse sandpaper.

This went on for several minutes, with many clones were dispelled from this shredding force, and even more were cut down by chunks of rock that tore through them like bullets.

When it finally died back down, the gang cautiously peeked out and most couldn't help but wince sympathetically at the damage. Almost every inch of the ship was covered in scratches, had rocks embedded into them, or was now more… aerated then before.

"Oh come on, are you freaking serious," Naruto groaned sadly while falling to his knees, a single tear falling down his cheek as he ran a hand over the ruined deck. "I just got this baby too."

Giggling a little at his over dramatic reaction, Mimi patted the blonde's shoulder comfortingly. "There there Naruto, don't be sad, we can still fix this."

"Hey look, a crest." Tai said while pointing to the top of the cactus they had anchored to which had a large flower that just bloomed to reveal the large stone plate of a crest with the symbol for Sincerity on it.

"Huh, you know, I'd actually forgotten that we were looking for that." Izzy admitted as the slab shrunk down to a small green rectangle and floated down into the tag around Mimi's neck. "Well, that's three down, just four more to go."

-End Chapter-

AN: I am SOOOO sorry for how long this took, I was stuck for a while trying to make this a proper chapter since this was originally supposed to be just the ending of last chapter. To that end I am also sorry if it didn't come out very well because of that. Thank you for reading and please review.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 30-

-Last Time-

 _Giggling a little at his over dramatic reaction, Mimi patted the blonde's shoulder comfortingly. "There there Naruto, don't be sad, we can still fix this."_

 _"Hey look, a crest." Tai said while pointing to the top of the cactus they had anchored to which had a large flower that just bloomed to reveal the large stone plate of a crest with the symbol for Sincerity on it._

 _"Huh, you know, I'd actually forgotten that we were looking for that." Izzy admitted as the slab shrunk down to a small green rectangle and floated down into the tag around Mimi's neck. "Well, that's three down, just four more to go."_

-And Now-

Naruto groaned tiredly as he flopped onto his bed, his body covered in bits of paint, wood and metal shavings, plaster, and soot. For the last three days he and his clones had been fixing up all the damage that had been done to the Sandoraidā during that last bout with Etemon, and boy was there a lot of it.

Almost every single deck had the walls and floors torn up, scratched, gnawed, ect, multiple fires had broken out across the ship, and there were hundreds of piles of broken rock and sand from the stone wolf bodies.

On the positive side, the majority of the damage had been merely aesthetic while key areas such as the engine and generators were mostly unharmed. An even luckier break was that Matt had stumbled upon a storage room filled with various supplies needed to patch things up.

Even so, it took a lot of time, effort, and clone spamming to get his ship in working order while simultaneously manning it.

Hell, there were still five or so of his doppelgangers going around making sure everything stayed in working order while one taught Matt and Tai how man the bridge.

So tired was he, Naruto didn't even care as he devolved into his Chibi form as he pulled the blanket over himself, nor when a certain pink loving girl exited the bathroom dressed in a pair of slightly baggy pink pajama pants and black pajama shirt with a pink flower decal on the middle.

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Mimi shuffled over and flopped onto the bed next to Naruto, burrowing under the covers as she pulled the chibi blonde into her arms. In less then a minute both of them were completely asleep with soft snores filling the air.

Due to their tiredness though, neither of them had noticed that the door was partially open or the three sets of eyes peering inside belonging to Palmon, Izzy, and Sora.

"Okay, be honest with me Izzy. She's getting worse again isn't she?" Sora asked while carefully closing the door.

"Unfortunately, it would appear so." The computer genius said with a sigh. Ever since the assault on the Sandoraidā by TitanEtemon and his stone wolves, Mimi seemed to have lost a chunk of her regained confidence as she'd redoubled her insistence on being by Naruto's side at all times.

Even the others were starting to notice her behavior, even the whiskered blonde himself, though Mimi managed to play it off as being worried that some of the stone wolves had survived somehow and were hiding onboard. And being the gullible knuckleheaded ninja he was, Naruto bought her excuse without a second thought.

Hence why he didn't question the girl further when she asked him to 'stand guard' outside the restroom whenever she was bathing or relieving herself.

"If her SBS (Security Blanket Syndrome) gets any more severe, we may have to take direct action." Izzy said, earning curious/worried looks from Sora and Palmon.

"Uh… what exactly do you mean by 'direct action'?" Palmon asked nervously.

Izzy opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off when the ship suddenly lurched, sending the three of them tumbling several feet down the hallway.

"Owwww, what was that?" Sora asked as she slowly got to her feet, gingerly rubbing the lump that was growing atop her noggin.

"Based on the intense kinetic force that propelled us and the lack of resounding motion shockwaves, I'd say that our transportation has ceased moving for some reason." Izzy said while Palmon helped him up before looking towards Naruto's room. "We should-"

*Bang* "KAMI DAMMIT! CAN'T I GET FIVE FREAKING MINUTES OF SLEEP BEFORE SOME CRAZY KUSO HAPPENS!?"

"…Wake up Naruto and Mimi in case something is wrong." Izzy finished quietly as a very upset Chibi Naruto burst through the doorway and marched towards the bridge with a heavy-duty artillery cannon in tow, a still half-asleep Mimi following him.

…

…

"Is anyone else wondering where they got that cannon?"

-Main Deck-

"GRAAAHHH!" A massive red beetle digimon screamed in agony, clawing at the front of the Sandoraidā where his lower half was being crushed while also trying to pull free his massive pincers from the hull. This is Kuwagamon, a powerful and deadly digimon who loved to cause destruction and mayhem.

He was also not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, which was the main reason why he was in his current predicament.

"You know, maybe trying to stop a two hundred-thousand-ton ship by catching it with your teeth wasn't the brightest of ideas!" Matt called down from the bow beside Gabumon, Tai, and Agumon, getting what he swore could was a very sarcastic roar of pain in response. "Hey Gabumon, could you put him out of his misery or something, this is kinda getting disturbing to see and he kinda holding us in place."

"Oh no, no way, I ain't getting involved in that mess." The wolf-pelt wearing digimon said with a shake of his head before trotting off. He was not getting dragged into this sort of unanswerable ethical dilemma that would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Oh well, guess that means you and me get to clean this one up Tai. Let's scrape this bug off the grill, shall we?" Agumon asked rhetorically as he climbed up the guardrail.

However, just when he was about jump down and deal with Kuwagamon, he paused when he noticed that Tai hadn't responded. Turning around to his partner, he finally noticed how the goggle-headed boy was staring down at the partially squashed bug with a blank expression as sweat poured down his forehead. "…Tai?"

-Tai's POV-

" **Greymon dark digivolve to** _…"_

 _As the miasma settled into place, it turned solid and became stark white until all that remained was a massive skeletal beast with a large orange heart in its ribcage and an orange fish-like object on it's back._

 _"…_ **SkullGreymon**!"

 _…Skullgreymon raised his bony hands and grabbed onto the mutated Greymon's head. "_ **Die** _."_

 _…the pressure became too much and GigaGreymon's head caved in with a sickening wet crunch._

 _"_ **GRAAAHH! DIE! DIE! DIE!"** _He roared, flailing his arms while blindly firing another fish missile from its back that obliterated even more of the coliseum. "_ **DIE! DIE!"**

 _-_ Normal POV-

*KABOOM* Tai was jarred from his dark remembrance by a loud explosion. Whirling his head towards the source, the goggle-headed boy's eyes widened in shock as he found himself staring at Naruto and Mimi pointing their cannon down at the smoking crater that used to be Kuwagamon.

"I swear, if anyone else causes trouble while I'm trying to sleep, they are gonna end up just like that." Naruto stated with a slightly crazed look thanks to his slightly bloodshot and baggy eyes that made everyone on deck shrink away slightly before Mimi scooped him up into her arms and marched off back towards their room.

…

"Hmm, somebody appears to be in quite the foul mood," A small pink pixie like digimon wielding a small spear said as he floated onto the deck, getting the remaining people to snap their attention towards him. "Perhaps I should come back later."

-Meanwhile-

"Sovereigns dammit it! How?! How do those brats keep slipping through my fingers, uh-huh!?" Etemon demanded as he paced back and forth his trailer while wringing a crushed microphone in his hands.

In the background several Gazimon were working diligently on a computer that had at about two dozen screens, three-fourths of which were filled with nothing but static while the remaining ones showed topographic maps of the desert.

"I mean it just doesn't make sense! I've thrown everything I have and then some at those digidestined children and yet they somehow keep coming out on top!" Etemon vented angrily. "It literally makes no sense!"

"Perhaps that is because you haven't considered all the variables." A familiar voice said as the door to the trailer swung open, causing Etemon to stop mid-step and look towards the owner.

"Oh really Aidmon? And what exactly do you mean by that little lady?" Etemon demanded with a raised brow as he looked down at the small doll digimon, though his tone did hold a small amount of respect. Every time she'd visited so far Aidmon had brought him a very nice 'gift' with her, so for now it was in his best interest to keep on her good side… for now.

"It's actually rather simple really." Aidmon said while sauntering inside. "All your plots so far haven't been thwarted by these digidestined you've been ranting about. There's someone else with them that's been doing that, someone that I believe you've had a great deal of personal experience with as of late."

Easily figuring out what the woman was referring to, Etemon grit his teeth angrily while one of his hands strayed towards his backside protectively. "Teumesemon."

"Ding ding ding, correct. Your ever-devout fan has discovered that this Teumesemon fellow is traveling with the digidestined for the sole purpose of causing you trouble since you invaded his territory." Aidmon said, her smirk widening slightly as Etemon growled lowly while the squished microphone in his grasp snapped in two. ' _Hook, line, and sinker.'_

"So that's why that bastard keeps showing up, uh-huh. I was wondering about that for a bit now."

"Indeed Mr. Etemon, and not only that but he has been spreading quite a few rumors about you as well to other digimon."

"…Oh really? And what exactly is he saying?" Etemon asked darkly, before blinking in confusion when Aidmon simply held up a piece of paper.

"They aren't really appropriate for a lady like myself to say, so your fan was nice enough to write a few of them down for you." Aidmon explained, giggling slightly when the orange monkey took the paper and read its contents.

…

"I'M GOING TO RIP THAT BASTARD'S SPINE OUT AND USE IT AS MY MIKE STAND!" Etemon screamed in rage before turning his attention back to his underlings. "I WANT THIS NETWORK UP AND RUNNING BY THE END OF THE DAY OR ELSE!"

"YES SIR!" The Gizamon yelled back in terror with salutes.

Losing himself into his rage, Etemon didn't even notice as Aidmon set a small package down on shelf and head for the door.

Upon stepping outside, the nurse mummy doll vanished in a blur of motion and reappeared inside a tropical oasis where Kitsunemon was casually laying back on a hammock, examining a small red crystal in his hands.

"That was fast." He said calmly, not even looking away from his work.

"Of course it was Master, that buffoon is so easy to trick that I could have done it in my sleep." Aidmon said with a huff before pulling out a huge pile of snacks and drinks from… somewhere? "He didn't even notice that I've been stealing all the food on his ridiculous trailer every time I visit. Would you like some twinkies?"

"Don't mind if I do." Kitsunemon said while grabbing a few of the fluffy snack cakes. "Ah, worthless sacks of meat they may be, but by Juubi do humans know how to make a tasty food."

"Indeed Master," Aidmon said as she placed the rest down beside him and started munching on a chocolate bar. "Shall I proceed with the next phase?"

"…Yes." The intimidating kitsune said with a nod, getting the doll digimon to smirk mischievously.

-End Chapter-

AN: Short chapter I know, but I hope it was still a good one. Thanks for reading and please review.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Humon?

-Chapter 31-

-Last Time-

 _"I swear, if anyone else causes trouble while I'm trying to sleep, they are gonna end up just like that." Naruto stated with a slightly crazed look thanks to his slightly bloodshot and baggy eyes that made everyone on deck shrink away slightly before Mimi scooped him up into her arms and marched off back towards their room._

…

 _"Hmm, somebody appears to be in quite the foul mood," A small pink pixie like digimon wielding a small spear said as he floated onto the deck, getting the remaining people to snap their attention towards him. "Perhaps I should come back later."_

…

 _"Indeed Master," Aidmon said as she placed the rest down beside him and started munching on a chocolate bar. "Shall I proceed with the next phase?"_

 _"…Yes." The intimidating kitsune said with a nod, getting the doll digimon to smirk mischievously._

-And Now-

"Who are you?" Tai asked the pixie digimon cautiously as the children braced themselves for a fight.

"Relax guys, that's Piximon, a wise warrior who's known for helping others and training digimon to be the best they can be." Tentomon said with a happy buzz while the other Digimon happily greeted the newcomer.

"Are you sure Tentomon?" Izzy asked, earning a confused buzz from his partner. "No offense but your information on supposedly friendly digimon has been more then a little spotty in the past."

"…Fair enough, but I am certain that Piximon is a good guy this time."

"Alright, if you say so." The computer whizz muttered as he and rest of the kids slowly relaxed in Piximon's presence.

"Hello Piximon, it is nice to meet you in person." Agumon said as the tiny Digimon landed on the deck.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all as well," Piximon said with a bow before floating back into the air. "But it appears that now isn't the best time for us to chat, if your friend's reaction is anything to go by you all probably want to go get some sleep as well."

"Actually, Naruto's just been doing most of the heavy lifting for the last few days and it's left him pretty tired." Gabumon said, frowning a little bit along with the rest of the group as they remembered how hard their friend had been working.

Thankfully, the workload had lightened now that the repairs were done and he taught the group how to do some of the various tasks needed to keep the ship in running order, but he was still doing the vast majority.

"Ah, of course," Piximon said with an understanding nod… which looked rather odd considering his whole body was his head. "As I was saying however, how about you all stop by my place to rest for a bit. It's not very far from here and I can guarantee completely safe."

Almost immediately, all the digimon, with the exception of Palmon who'd left in favor of following Mimi and Naruto, gained excited expressions and nodded their heads eagerly in agreement. However, that eagerness rapidly dissipated when they turned back to their partners and saw the hesitant looks they all had.

"Uh… that's very nice of you sir, but I think it would be best if we just continued on our way." Sora said with an apologetic smile while the rest of the children nodded in agreement, baffling the digimon.

"Oh, may I inquire why?" Piximon asked, his head/body tilted in confusion.

"Yeah guys, what's the hold-up? I'm sure we could just stop by for a short break, it is the polite thing to do after all." Gabumon said with a small frown.

"Well I don't know, how about what happened almost every time we accepted some random digimon's hospitality since we've gotten here," Matt stated dully, causing his partner and the other digimon except for Piximon to deflate upon being reminded of those instances.

"Look, not to sound rude or ungrateful Piximon, but we've just been tricked, manipulated, and duped too many times to just blindly accept such an offer," Joe explained, "Besides, no matter how safe your home is, our ship kinda sticks out if you haven't noticed and we'd feel pretty bad if we led Etemon right to your home."

"Hmmm, yes, that is quite understandable," Piximon said with a nod after contemplating their words for a few moments before turning to the front of the ship and waving his spear in a dramatic fashion. "Though perhaps this will assuage your concerns, if only a little bit."

Before anyone could ask him what he was doing, the whole group found themselves staring in awe as a large hole opened up in the air, revealing a lush jungle forest.

"That over there is my home, I use this barrier to keep unwanted visitors out, and as you can see there is plenty of space to hide your ship. You won't even have to step off board if you wish." The small pink digimon said with a smile.

Taking in the sight for a few more moments, the children glanced at each-other, then at their digimon who were silently pleading, and finally back at the forested area.

"Could you give us a minute?" Joe asked, holding up his dominant hand up with the universal 'one-moment' sign.

"Of course, of course, take all the time you need." Piximon said with a wave of his hand, prompting the children and their digimon partners to huddle up and whisper quietly to each-other.

After several minutes of silent, and occasionally not-so-silent, debate along with a dozen or so glances back towards the pixie digimon and his home, the group disbanded and turned back to Piximon.

"Alright, we'll stay for a bit, but only so Naruto can get a proper night's rest and get some supplies if that's alright." Izzy said, since stopping meant the clones Naruto had still running about could dispel for now… and the kitchen was starting to run a bit low on food.

"No problem, none at all, help yourselves to whatever you may need while you're here." Piximon said, nodding his head/body in response. With this decision made, Joe ran off to go inform the clones currently in control of the ship on what was going on and the Sandoraidā soon started moving again, sailing through the hole in the camo-barrier.

However, right as the last part of the ship was passed through, a small figure shot out into the air from a nearby dune and landed silently on the back deck of the ship. Glancing back at the desert, a familiar doll-like digimon's face could be seen for just a few moments before the gap closed, her expression brimming with mischief and humor.

-Fifteen minutes Later-

"Oh man, Naruto is going to be soooooo pissed." Tai said with a groan as he and the rest of the gang stared at the Sandoraidā from a small hill several yards away.

"No kidding, he is going to flip out when he sees this." Biyomon stated with a sheepish trill while everyone else but Piximon nodded in agreement.

The cause for this was the dozens of scratches and giant splinters that now ran along either side of the cruise ships recently repainted hull, curtesy of the multitude of trees they'd run over while trying to park the massive boat.

"…my favorite pillow to Unimon and my emergency box of chocolate to Centarumon…" Gomamon muttered as he rapidly wrote things down on a sheet of paper that had 'Last Will and Testament' written in bold at the top.

"Relax young ones, watch and see, I can fix this up easy as one, two, three!" Piximon rhymed as he twirled his spear dramatically, creating a swirl of sparkles that washed over the ship and magically fixed the damage, leaving the hull a nice pristine white once more.

"Huh… that's a handy trick." Joe said with a relieved sigh while wiping off the sweat that had formed on his brow.

"That it is, especially when I need to clean up after a hard day of training," Piximon said with a grin before glancing up at the sky. "Speaking of which, I need to get back to my exercises, if you need me or wish to join me just follow the noise. Otherwise feel free to relax or help yourself to some fruit and vegetables from my gardens."

The pixie digimon pointed to a cluster of trees a short distance away that were laden with various fruits and multiple vegetable plants, both of earth and digital world origin, then promptly shot off in the opposite direction towards a large mountain with a house atop it.

"…Well, that was… I wanna say either random or anticlimactic." Sora said with a quirked brow.

"Both, definitely both," Izzy said dully before turning his attention back to the rest of the group. "Okay guys, does everyone remember the plan?"

"Yeah, yeah, you, Tentomon, and Matt will check out the crest signal nearby while Sora, Biyomon, and Palmon watch over Naruto and Mimi, and the rest of us work on collecting supplies," Gomamon said with a wave of his paw as he carelessly chucked his half-finished will aside. "We'll have this done with before you can say 'Digimon'."

"And don't forget to keep your guards up, we still don't know if this is some kind of trap." Izzy said, getting the rest to nod in agreement, albeit slightly reluctantly from the digimon.

No other words were said as the groups divvied up to their tasks, Izzy leading his group off into the forest with his laptop and Sora heading back up into the ship with her partner. Meanwhile, the remaining children and digimon in the group also split up, with T.K., Patamon, and Gabumon working on gathering food and Tai, Joe, Agumon, and Gomamon went to another part of the ship and moved big crates up and down a larger, sturdier ramp.

Twenty minutes later though, Tai and Agumon finished moving one of the now filled boxes back up the ramp and stopped to catch their breath, the goggle wearing boy leaned against the wooden container with a tired huff. "Man, these things weigh a ton."

"No kidding, my arms are killing me." Agumon grunted as he flopped onto his rear, equally as tired.

"You guys know it would be easier if just had Agumon digivolve, right?" Joe asked the pair with a raised brow as he and Ikkakumon went past, the former carrying a basket of herbs while the latter effortlessly moved multiple crates up the ramp at once.

The moment the older boy said this, Tai gained an uneasy look as he looked at the ground with a slightly glazed look. "Yeah, I know… it's just…"

 _ **"Die."**_

 _*Cra-Squelch*_

Having an idea what was bothering the boy, Joe gave him a sympathetic look before starting to move along… only to stop when an idea popped up in his head. "Hey Tai, why don't you guys go check on Piximon? See if he's really just training like he said and not setting up some trap."

"Yeah, that's sounds like a good idea," Tai said with a nod as he stood up, glad for the change of subject. "We're on it."

"Sweet! Maybe we can ask him for some training while we're there." Agumon said excitedly as the duo went off in the direction of the tiny digimon's house.

' _Well… hopefully that wasn't a terrible idea.'_ Joe thought to himself as he readjusted his grip on the basket of herbs in his grasp and went back to work.

-Meanwhile, on the Ship-

"This is really boring." Biyomon said, pacing back and forth in the hallway outside Naruto's room (and unofficially Mimi's) room.

"Why do you think I brought a book?" Sora asked rhetorically as she held the book up in her grasp for emphasis. It was a comedy manga she'd got from the ship's library, which the group had found just the other day. "I told you that you should have grabbed one as well, didn't I."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be this boring." The pink bird said with a pout, making Sora roll her eyes good-naturedly before snapping the picture filled book shut and holding it out to the pacing digimon.

"Here, I'm done with it already."

Smiling happily, Biyomon reached out to grab the offered book-

*Sploosh* "Gah!" "Bjdhf!"

…Only to be cut off by a blast of translucent red slime that soaked the duo.

"Hehehe, bullseye!" A soft feminine voice said with a giggle, causing the pair to snap their attention to the side to see a certain nurse-doll digimon standing at the end of the hall with water blaster as big as her filled with more goo.

"What the? An Aidmon? Where did you come from?" Biyomon asked in surprise.

"Ugh, more importantly, what the heck is this stuff?" Sora demanded as she wiped off some of the gunk on her face.

"Won't tell unless you catch me." Aidmon said before blasting the pair again and running off.

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but I was just not really in a writing mood these last few days thanks to personal issues, though I still hope you all enjoyed it. As an apology for the long Hiatus though, I have decided to reconsider having Angewomon as part of the pairing… so hurray for that.

On another note, please check out my new twitter account, Twitter (Period) com (Slash) kitsune654 (Really hate the link removal thing), if you haven't already as I will be posting updates such as which stories will be updated next or on any delays that come up. Thank you for reading and please review.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon

-Chapter 32-

-Last Time-

 _"What the? An Aidmon? Where did you come from?" Biyomon asked in surprise._

 _"Ugh, more importantly, what the heck is this stuff?" Sora demanded as she wiped off some of the gunk on her face._

 _"Won't tell unless you catch me." Aidmon said before blasting the pair again and running off._

-And now-

"Hahahaha!" A melodious laughter filled the air as Aidmon skipped across the deck of the Sandoraidā with a drenched Biyomon and Sora chasing after her. The duo were trying their best to catch up to the nurse doll digimon only to be repeatedly thwarted when she'd either change direction, speed up at the last second, or rebuff the two with another spray of her slime-filled super-soaker.

And to make this situation even more annoying for the partners, Aidmon had not only soaked almost every inch of the ship she passed with this mystery slime of hers, causing the pair to slip and slide as they ran, but was also doing all of this… backwards.

After several minutes of this game of cat and mouse, the evasive digimon skid to a stop near the prow and smirked as Biyomon and Sora stood before her panting heavily.

"Slow and steady may win the race, but to catch me you two really need to pick up the pace~." Aidmon said in a sing-song tone while making a 'come-at-me' gesture, making her two pursuers glare at her in irritation.

"When I get my hands on this digimon I'm gonna…" Sora grumbled something inaudible but no doubt foul under her breath as she panted heavily in exhaustion, her face red from exertion.

"Oh my, it would seem that I have upset you." The nurse doll digimon said with a giggle while casually reloading her squirt gun with a fresh tank that she had somehow had in her dress.

"No, really? Whatever gave you that idea?" Biyomon asked sarcastically between huffs as she glared at Aidmon in irritation.

"Eh, just a feeling," Aidmon said with a shrug before suddenly pointing her water gun behind her and firing, blasting a surprised Joe, Gabumon, and Ikkakumon away when they jumped into view. "Nice try boys, but if you want to sneak up on you need to not be as noisy as a Monochromon in a china shop."

' _Dang it, I thought we had her with that one.'_ Sora thought with a groan. She and Biyomon had run into the boys earlier while chasing after Aidmon and had come up with the plan of ambushing the gun touting digimon while she and Biyomon kept her distracted.

"Well this is getting boring fast," Sora snapped out of her thoughts as the nurse doll digimon yawned loudly and cracked her neck. "I thought you digidestined guys would at least give me a decent warm-up with all the hype I've heard, but I guess you've just been riding on Naruto-sama's coattails this whole time."

"Hey, what's that supposed to…" Sora started to demand in irritation, only to trail off as a certain part of the digimon's statement jumped out at her. "Wait, Naruto-sama? You know Naruto?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Aidmon said cryptically with a smirk while once again making a 'come hither' motion with her free hand. "If you want me to tell you more, then you'll have to make me… if you can that is."

"Oh now you're asking for it," Biyomon growled with a twitching brow at the insult before her body was engulfed in a familiar glow. " _Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!_ Meteor Wing!"

As soon as she finished digivolving, the now massive fire bird immediately spread her wings wide open and fired several powerful blasts of fire right at Aidmon.

"Now that's more like it!" The nurse doll digimon exclaimed with a wide smirk as she jumped out of the way of the attacks. "Let's have some real fun!"

And just like that, the chase was back on, only now Aidmon was actually showing some effort now as she hopped, skipped, and leapt out of the way of the almost constant barrage of flames curtesy of Birdramon who was in hot pursuit.

A few moments later Ikkakumon, Gabumon, and Joe managed to get back up on deck, with the former two immediately joining Birdramon.

Meanwhile, an incredibly nervous looking Joe meandered over to Sora's side as they watched the digimon run rampantly across the deck.

"Sora, we need to stop them, now." The mild hypochondriac said with sweat pouring down forehead, getting the helmeted girl to snap out of her angry state and look at him with a cocked brow. Before she could vocalize said confusion though, the whole ship shook thanks to a barrage of torpedoes from Ikkakumon.

"Miss me~ Miss me~, now you gotta kiss me~!" Aidmon giggled out while simultaneously weaving around another wave of Meteor Wing and Blue Blaster blasts.

As she watched this happen, Sora's face rapidly paled when she realized why Joe said they needed to stop. ' _Oh god, at this rate their gonna wake up-'_

*Slam* "ALRIGHT, WHO AND WHERE ARE THE JACKASSES THAT JUST ORDERED AN EXPRESS ASSKICKING!" Everyone froze as one Naruto Uzumaki burst onto the main deck in his Kitsumon form, the poor door in his path having been reduced to a pile of splinters from how hard he slammed it open.

While he was much more rested looking then earlier, with his eyes no longer being bloodshot and the bags under them being much less noticeable, it was clear that he was still very tired and thus very, VERY, cranky at having his sleep disturbed once more.

Spotting the four digimon currently surrounded by the smoldering wreckage that was once the deck of his ship certainly do his sour mood any favors either.

Identifying them as the source of his irritation, Naruto vanished in a static blur before reappearing a second later right next to Aidmon. Not even a nanosecond later, said digimon fell to the ground hard enough to crater the deck with a surprised yelp along with Gabumon, Ikkakumon, and Birdramon, each sporting a smoking welt atop of their noggins and the latter two devolving.

The whiskered blonde then promptly picked up the downed nurse doll digimon by the back of her collar and hoisted her up to eye level, causing her gun to clatter loudly as it slipped from her grasp, his prior annoyance shifting to a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. "Who the hell are you and why are you causing trouble on my ship?"

"Oooooh, my apologies for disturbing your slumber Naruto-sama," Aidmon mumbled while rubbing her head with a wince, causing Naruto to cock a brow at the honorable suffix. "My name is Aidmon, I only intended to have a bit of fun whilst waiting for you to awaken so we could speak and unfortunately let myself get carried away."

"Alright, I can believe that," Naruto said with a nod as his temper continued to slowly cool, having done some crazy things himself when he was bored. Seeing the sincerity of her apology, the whiskered blonde decided to give her the benefit of doubt for now and gently set her back down on the deck. "But why do you want to talk with me? And what's with the -Sama?"

"Two different questions yet both share the same answer," Aidmon stated with a giggle as she straightened up her ruffled outfit before bowing towards Naruto respectfully. "I want to thank you Naruto-sama for it was your actions in File Island that resulted in my salvation."

Tilting his head in confusion at the miniature nurse's statement, Naruto stared at her blankly for several moments until the metaphoric lightbulb went off in his head. "You one of the digimon that Devimon enslaved with those black gears?"

"Nope," Aidmon said with a shake of her head, making Naruto blink in surprise until she continued. "I was shipwrecked on a small island and had been stuck there for almost a year until I was found by a digimon from File who rescued me. He told me about how you freed everyone there from this Devimon fellow then headed off to Server to do the same with some other bad digimon, and I decided to follow after so that I could meet you for myself."

"Uh, I'm happy that I could help… indirectly at least." Naruto said a little unsurely while rubbing the small digimon's head, not really knowing what else to say or do.

Thankfully, it seemed like that was good enough as Aidmon's smile grew wider before she reached behind herself and pulled out a small roll of bandages with her symbol and a soft blue glow that she then held out towards him. "Here, I know it isn't much, but I hope you find them helpful."

"Oh cool, thanks," The whiskered blonde said with a smile as he accepted the small gift. "Knowing my luck, this will definitely come in handy."

"I'm glad that I could be of help to you," Aidmon stated with another bow before pulling out a small black pellet. "Now as much as I'd love to talk with you more I must get going, I have duties elsewhere that need attended to."

*Poof*

Naruto and the other digimon broke into coughing fits as the nurse doll digimon crushed the pellet in her grasp, releasing a thick cloud of pink smoke that obscured their vision. Once it cleared, Aidmon was nowhere to be found along with her squirt gun, the only trace of her being an empty tank leaking out more mystery slime.

"Well… that was interesting." Naruto said between coughs as he waved his hand to help clear away the last few wisps of smoke around him.

"I'd say that's an understatement, but at this point that was probably one of the least odd things we've had to deal with." Joe muttered dully while Sora nodded in agreement.

"I'm just glad Naruto isn't super angry at us about the ship." The helmeted girl said back with a sigh of relief.

"Oh no, trust me," Both kids froze as a familiar pair of furred arms wrapped around their shoulders, before they turned their heads to see an 'innocently' smiling Naruto now standing behind them with a menacing aura wafting around him. This was only made worse by the sight of Biyomon, Gabumon, and Gomamon tied up a few feet away with comical tears pouring from their eyes. "We're going to have a nice loooooong chat about how you guys wrecked the ship I just finished fixing."

Gulping nervously, Sora quickly pointed at where the whiskered blonde had just been with a shaking hand. "I-it w-wasn't our fault t-though, Aidmon-"

"Sprayed the deck with jam filling which could easily be hosed off," Naruto cut her off with a sickly-sweet smile as he wiped off a glob of said filling from the top of the girl's helmet and popped it into his mouth. He then placed his hands atop both Sora and Joe's heads and made them turn to face the smoldering and blasted ruins that used to be the main deck. "That on the other hand is not so easy to clean up and appears to be all your guys doing if I'm not mistaken."

"I… I… I… … …crap." The girl mumbled, her head drooping in defeat upon realizing there was no escape as she, Joe, and their digimon were dragged away by the annoyed blonde.

-Ten Minutes Later-

"Hey guys! Guess what?" Izzy exclaimed as he, Matt, and Tentomon climbed up the ramp of the ship, the former two covered in splotches of silt and bits of moss. "We found not just one but… two… crests… oooooooh."

The computer whizz couldn't help but hiss out sympathetically upon the top deck coming into view, where Joe, Sora, Biyomon, Gabumon, and Gomamon were hard at work fixing up the recent damage they caused, occasionally stopping to rub their backsides with grimaces and/or pained groans.

Meanwhile, Naruto was chilling out in a cushy lounge chair by the pool, sipping a classic coconut drink with Mimi laying next to him, TK next to her sleeping, and Patamon asleep on his partner's head.

"Hey guys, two crests, not bad," The whiskered blonde said with a thumbs-up. "That just leaves two more to find."

"One step getting all this crud over with and going home." Mimi said happily while adjusting a pair of pink sunglasses she was wearing before taking a sip from the large cup resting on a side table next to her through a heart shaped curly straw.

"Uh-huh, so what happened to you guys while we were gone? Did Piximon end up being a bad guy after all?" Matt asked bluntly while gesturing to the damaged deck and miserable companions.

"Nope, just some certain somebodies going overboard over a minor issue. Which I'm certain won't be happening again any time soon." Naruto said while giving said somebodies overly an happy look, prompting them to work just a little bit faster.

' _Jeez, he's acting just like a parent dealing with their misbehaving kids.'_ Matt and Izzy unknowingly thought at the same time as sweat-drops poured down the side of their heads.

"Why do they keep grabbing their butts though?" Tentomon asked curiously while gesturing to Sora, who had stopped to rub her rear while sending Naruto a mild glare.

"I introduced them to my new friend Sumakkī-chan." The whiskered blonde said while reaching behind himself and pulling out a small paddle with a thick orange towel wrapped around the blade. Upon it coming into sight, Sora expression changed to one of embarrassment and nervousness while she not-so-discreetly inched away from Naruto.

"…Okay then, if you excuse me I'm gonna go take a bath before this moss starts growing on me." Izzy said before heading towards the nearest door leading to the bedrooms with Matt and Tentomon following after a few seconds later, none of them wanting to be caught up in the odd situation they walked into.

"Hey Matt," Naruto called out suddenly, causing the self proclaimed cool kid to look back and see the whiskered blonde jabbing a thumb towards TK. "Might want to take him with ya, little guy could use a wash as well."

Seeing the fruit juice that was all over his sleeping brother's face and hands, Matt simply nodded in agreement and went over to get him.

Ass all of this was going on though, nobody noticed as tiny red specks that floated out of the jam that was splattered across the ship, nor as they grouped together in certain areas all over the vessel. One of these clusters settled into a shaded corner overlooking the pool before the flecks melded together to form a small paper thin transparent red disk that then proceeded to press itself against the wall so it was almost impossible to see.

Once all of this was done, he disk glowed ever so softly before the outline of a familiar slit-pupiled eye came into view.

-Unknown Location-

"Hmmmm, excellent," Kitsunemon said with a smirk as he sat back in his hammock, munching on a bucket of popcorn as dozens of floating screens popped up in front of him that displayed various parts of the Sandoraidā. "You've done well Aidmon."

"Of course Master, were you expecting any less of me?" Said nurse digimon asked with a smile as she walked up to the transformed biju, a tray with two smoothies in hand.

"Perhaps, it is hard to find such a competent servant like yourself these days after all." Kitsunemon stated, taking one of the drinks while Aidmon helped herself to the other.

"Very true Master." The mummy-like nurse said after taking a long sip from her drink.

"Though it would seem you made quite the first impression with these ningen." The Kyuubi said with a low chuckle as the aftermath of Aidmon's 'visit' appeared.

Shrugging, the nurse continued to drink her beverage for a few moments before answering verbally. "What can I say, you taught me everything I know about making an entrance."

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry for the late update, been recovering from the New Year's celebration. While it wasn't as action-packed as many of you were probably hoping for, I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. For those who think Naruto might have gone a little too far with the spanking, just imagine yourself in his place, having spent several days fixing up a ship only to be rudely awakened a few hours later to someone undoing it all. Sumakki-chan: Smacky-chan, internet cookie to anyone that gets this reference. Thanks for reading and please review.


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Humon?

Chapter 33

-Last Time-

 _"Very true Master." The mummy-like nurse said after taking a long sip from her drink._

 _"Though it would seem you made quite the first impression with these ningen." The Kyuubi said with a low chuckle as the aftermath of Aidmon's 'visit' appeared._

 _Shrugging, the nurse continued to drink her beverage for a few moments before answering verbally. "What can I say, you taught me everything I know about making an entrance."_

-And Now-

"Ahhhh… now this is the life." Naruto sighed contentfully as he laid back in his lounge chair, the wind gently blowing through his hair and the rays of the setting sun gently warmed his skin.

"You said it," Mimi muttered from her seat right beside the whiskered blonde, a peaceful smile on her lips that didn't even waver as she took a sip from a large cup of tea. "No chaos, no fighting, no running for our lives every five seconds, I'd almost forgotten what being relaxed felt like."

"Zzzzzz… Zzzzzz…" Palmon chipped in as well from her own chair, snoring softly with a pair of overly large sunglasses on her face and her feet resting in a large bowl of water.

It had been a little over two days since they'd run into Pixiemon, who thankfully didn't turn out to be a bad guy after all and they were able to finish stocking back up on supplies without too much issue. Then, after Tai and Agumon returned from some strange moral boosting training and everyone got a decent nights rest, the adventuring heroes bid the tiny pink digimon goodbye and set off to find the last two crests that remained.

And now, after a whole day of nothing but nice calm smooth sailing, Naruto and Mimi were situated at the back of the Sandoraidā watching the spectacular view of the horizon, enjoying a well-deserved reprieve while Izzy and Tai manned the bridge for them.

"Well I'm glad you guys are enjoying yourselves," Joe said sarcastically from a ways behind the pair, slowly swishing a mop back and forth across the deck while Gomamon was skating around him on a pair of scrubbing brushing and Gabumon was sweeping up loose sand. Finishing with the spot he was on, the mild hypochondriac placed the mop in a nearby bucket before shaking his hands with a grimace. "I think my hands are about to fall off."

"Well maybe that will teach you not to go around breaking other people's stuff in the future." Naruto retorted without looking away from the sunset, his expression briefly changing from relaxed to amused as he spoke.

"Ah, come on Joe, it's not that bad," Gomamon said while skating past his partner once again, this time doing a handstand. "Or would you rather be dealing with the septic tanks and garbage like Sora and Biyomon instead?"

Freezing in place with a look of horror on his face, Joe stayed still as a statue for exactly three seconds before grabbing the mop again and started cleaning much more enthusiastically. "Nope! Nope! I'm good!"

Naruto had given the pair two jobs to choose from for today as the last part of their punishment, clean up the entire top deck or work the sewage piping. Naturally, there was no way Joe was going to be stuck doing such a disgusting, horrible, nasty task like that, so he was grateful that Sora volunteered for the task.

He could only imagine how those two poor souls were doing while no doubt knee deep in that bacterial nightmare.

-Below Deck-

Sora hummed along with the tune of a song playing from an old fashioned record player as she sat in front of a large console that had 'Main Sewage Control' posted on the side in bold letters, three different screens, and several various controls that she'd occasionally adjust every few minutes.

Meanwhile, Biyomon could be seen at the end of a nearby hallway calmly scooping ash and bits of half burned trash out from large furnace into a half-full bin several times larger than she is while humming along to the music as well.

-And Back-

Oh, just the thought of it made him feel ill!

"Hey, am I interrupting anything?" Izzy's voice rang out, causing everyone to turn their attention towards the computer whizz as he and Tentomon came out on deck, the former carrying his ever-present computer with him as he walked.

"Not really, what's up Izzy?" Naruto asked with a tilted head. "We near another crest already?"

"About four and a half kilometers ahead of us to be exact, however that is not why I need to speak to you," The redhead said before turning his computer around to show the map that was on screen. "According to the maps I found on the ship's navigational computer we're coming up on a series of canyons and gorges that'll be impossible for our current transportation to safely navigate."

"Which means we'll have to continue on foot," Naruto said, a small frown forming on his lips as Izzy nodded. "I figured something like that would happen sooner or later, should have known it be sooner."

"And that's not all, while I was downloading the map, I was able to briefly hack into Etemon's own network. I was hoping to use it to possible help track down the last two crests faster and keep us under the big ape's radar, but instead I… well just see for yourself."

Pushing a button, the screen changed to show an email inbox with an already opened message, though before anyone could read it for themselves a staticky electronic male voice started to speak. " _Help! S.O.S.! I am being held prisoner by Etemon! Help me and I will aid you in finding the crests you seek! Please! Help me!"_

…

"Hmmm," Naruto's brows knit together as he raised a hand to rub his temple. "Great, just great, as if things weren't complicated enough."

"So we're going to go help this person then?" Mimi asked, to which the whiskered blonde nodded.

"We'll check it out after we get this next crest," He said with a tired sigh. "It's probably just another trap but I can't in good conscious just ignore someone asking for our help."

Standing up from his seat, Naruto stretched a bit, his joints giving off a muted cracking sound as he did, before cracking his neck and turning back to the others. "Alright then, tell everyone to get ready, it's already late so I'll go find us a place to park for the night and we can start walking in the morning."

"Got it!"

"No problem."

"We're on it."

"Weeeeeeeee!" Were the responses from Joe, Izzy, Tentomon, and Gomamon respectively as they hurried off to do just that while Naruto headed off towards the bridge with Mimi naturally following right after him.

"Zzzzz… Zzzzz… Huh whazzit?" Palmon snorted as she woke up from her own snoring, glancing at the now abandoned deck in confusion. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"

Looking around a bit more, the plant digimon yawned deeply before shrugging off her confusion and laying back down. "Eh, probably went to bed or something… ah well… Zzzzzzz."

-Bridge, Few Hours Later-

"Okay, this seems like a good spot." Naruto said as he cut the Sandoraidā's engines and carefully brought the ship to a stop at the entrance of a large canyon.

"About time, I waaaaaas starting to think we'd never find one." Mimi mumbled while leaning against a nearby wall, her eyes drooping as she yawned heavily.

"I did say you should have just gone to bed already since it would take a bit Mimi." Flicking a few switches and spinning a large valve, Naruto grinned as there was a distant crashing sound from the vessel's anchor falling to the ground.

Unnecessary for sure, but he liked doing that, made it feel like he was really at sea.

"And done," The blonde said, pretending to dust off his hands after putting everything on standby. "Let's go hit the hay Mimi… Mimi?"

Not getting a response, Naruto glanced over at the pink lover before chuckling softly when he saw her dozing away, having slid into a sitting position with her head comically pressed against the wall. Stepping over to the slumbering girl's side, the fox boy gently scooped her up into his arms, settling her into a bridal carry with her head nestled into the crook of his neck.

Making sure he had a decent grip, Naruto then proceeded to walk towards their sort-of shared room, moving at a slow yet steady pace to avoid jostling his passenger too much.

Thanks to his now intimate knowledge of the ship's layout, seriously even he was surprised at how well he could find his way around sometimes, it only took the blonde a few minutes for the blonde to arrive at his destination. Standing in front of the door to their room, the foxy blonde's face scrunched up in concentration for a moment as he used his tail to open the doorway.

Not wasting a second, Naruto stepped inside and silently pushed the door back shut behind him before going over to the bed and laying Mimi down. Once he was done tucking her in, the whiskered blonde sat down on the edge of the mattress with a gentle smile on his lips as he stared at the sleeping girl.

However, out of the blue, Naruto's gaze dropped to the floor as the cheer on his face suddenly just vanished and his lips curled into a deep frown, his expression flickering through many different emotions until it settled into a contemplative stare.

" _Kitsumon digivolve to… Teumesemon,"_ He whispered, briefly covering Mimi's face with her blanket as he changed to his stronger form before biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood and, after doing three quick hand-signs, placed it against the ground. " _Summoning Jutsu."_

*Poof* In a puff of smoke, a familiar vest wearing orange toad appeared before the whiskered blonde with an abnormally blank expression. "Hey Naruto."

"Hey Kichi."

…

…

"How long?" Naruto asked, finally breaking the long tense silence that had formed between them.

"About an hour," Gamakichi said in a low tone, making Naruto sigh deeply as his shoulders drooped. "You?"

"Two weeks," Naruto's hands balled into fists and his arms started trembling as he spoke. "Two weeks… two whole weeks…in just an hour."

As it turns out, there was some weird time difference between Naruto's home and wherever he was now. It was something the blonde discovered when he'd summoned Gamakichi on Whamon's back about two-thirds of the way to Server and the toad chewed him out as it had only been five minutes for him.

"Come on Naruto, chill out," Gamakichi said, hopping up and giving the blonde a semi-gentle slap on the cheek. "It's not that bad bro, annoying sure but you've had to deal with worse."

"Yeah, probably," Naruto said, sending the toad a dirty look while rubbing his cheek. "Is everyone alright at least?"

That was something that had been nagging at him for some time now, whether or not his friends were alright, if any of them had been seriously hurt or worse killed, and if he'd managed o stop Sasuke from falling into Orochimaru's hands.

"Mostly, your friends Neji and Choji just got out of surgery and I saw that Sasuke buddy of yours getting his face stitched back together, but otherwise everybody is alive and well from what I've heard." Gamakichi said, making the blonde smile slightly.

"So I did manage to keep my promise to Sakura-chan after all, that's good to hear." Naruto mumbled with a relieved smile. However, once again the boy's cheer was short-lived and he went back to staring at the floor much to the toad summon's surprise.

"Uh, what's up with you Naruto?" He asked with a tilted head. "I just told you that all your friends are okay and your mission was a success, kinda figured you'd be jumping for joy right now. I haven't seen you act like this since… well, ever actually."

"I am happy." Naruto said without looking up from the floor, making Gamakichi stare at him with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah, because you look just absolutely overjoyed."

"Stuff it Kichi," The blonde grumbled, earning a brief laugh from the small toad, before scratching the back of his head with a sigh. "Look, I just got a lot on my mind, alright?"

"Oh really, and would any of it happen to have anything to do with the sweet little number slumbering next to ya?" Gamakichi asked suggestively while pointing towards Mimi, who had latched onto several of Naruto's tails as they were talking, snuggling them to her chest like one would a teddy bear.

Thankfully, Naruto didn't have to worry about accidentally hurting the girl as the white fires on the ends of his tails gently licked over various parts of her body, since his flames only actually burned when he wanted them too.

"Yes actually," Naruto stated bluntly, causing the toad to blink in surprise. "Kichi, be honest with me… do you think I am a good leader?"

"Uh, little out of the blue there ain't it?" Gamakichi asked back, only for Naruto to continue staring at the floor. "Seriously Naruto, what's this about?"

"Her, them, all of these guys keep looking to me for guidance, to tell them where we should go or what to do next," As Naruto spoke, he finally looked away from the floor and instead started staring at the wall as he gripped the sides of his head. "But why though? Why me? I've never led anyone before, I don't even know how to lead."

"Ah, I get ya now bro." Gamakichi said while rubbing his chin. "Sounds like you're overthinking things to me."

"Am i?" Naruto asked, his gaze filled with uncertainty. "What if I make a mistake and one of them gets killed or something? I mean come on Kichi, we both know I'm an idiot most of the time."

"Don't you mean all the time?" The summon asked joking, earning a dry glare from the whiskered blonde as his flames flared out menacingly.

"I'm being serious here Kichi."

"Alright, alright, chill dude," Raising his hands up in a pacifying manner, Gamakichi couldn't help but gulp nervously at the rather intimidating sight. "Sheesh bro, you really are wound up."

Naruto continued to glare at the toad for several moments before his whole body seemed to deflate as he took a few deep breaths as an air of exhaustion surrounded him. "Sorry Kichi."

"Don't be, I get it," Gamakichi said while waving off the blonde's apology. "You're under a lot of stress, not exactly the best time for me to be cracking jokes."

"No kidding-Ttebayo," Naruto muttered, running a hand through his hair as he tried to recompose himself. "`I really need some help Kichi, I just… I just don't know what to do anymore."

"So you want my advice then?" The toad asked, getting a slow nod in response from the whiskered teen. "Alright, then here it is. Stop thinking about it so much."

"What are you-" Naruto started to say, only to be cut off when Gamakichi hopped onto his lap and smacked a hand over the foxy boy's mouth.

"Let me finish," The summon said sternly. "Look, If I'm being honest then yes, you are inexperienced as a leader, yeah you could mess up and get someone hurt or worse, and yes you can be dumb at times."

With each word the toad spoke, Naruto seemed to physically deflate while an air of tiredness and defeat surrounding him.

"However," Gamakichi continued, snapping the blonde's attention back on him. "You are also ridiculously brave, great at coming up with on the fly plans that have yet to fail, always do you best to help others, and are generally just a nice guy."

Pulling his hand away from the blonde's mouth, the toad hopped back to the floor just as his summoner reverted to his one-tailed form. "You say that these kids want you to lead? Well maybe that's because you have done nothing but proven time and again that you can. Consider that for a bit, I'm out of time."

*Poof* With that the toad was gone, leaving Naruto alone to contemplate his words.

And contemplate the whiskered blonde, his gaze once again dropping to the floor as he opened and closed his hands over and over, many thoughts passing through his mind yet his face remained inexplicably blank through it all.

Eventually though, Naruto just sighed tiredly before laying down on the bed, careful not to disturb Mimi and to keep a respectable distance between them as he pulled the covers over himself. Shifting around a bit until he was comfortable, the foxy boy's face still held a lot of doubt on it even as he slipped into a deep but slightly uneasy sleep.

Not even ten minutes after he'd fallen asleep though, Mimi's eyes suddenly snapped open and immediately focused on the slumbering blonde as she sidled over until she was snuggled right up to him.

" _You really are too caring_ ," She whispered while wrapping her arms around his waist, her voice compassionate and supporting. " _We're lucky to have someone like you helping us. So please, don't doubt yourself because of us."_

Her piece said, Mimi gave Naruto a soft kiss on his whiskered cheek before snuggling her head against the crook of his neck with a gentle smile.

-End Chapter-

AN: As I've stated many times in the past, deep emotional parts like this are rather challenging for me and any tips or constructive criticism is welcomed. That said, I really do hope I managed to depict how Naruto is struggling to cope with his role as leader of the digidestined.

Something I noticed is that a lot of stories tend to have him simple take control and that's that, and thus overlooking a very glaring thing. At this point of Naruto's life, while he has had brief stints of being in charge, has never had to handle any form of long term leadership obligations before, and now he's suddenly has to take charge of seven incredibly underprepared children (and their inexperienced digimon) through all sorts of dangerous life-threatening challenges.

Given his caring and sympathetic nature demanding he keep those kids safe, the not so small concern about the kyuubi being loose, then add in his own worries on whether or not he can ever return home, and just try to imagine the amount of stress he's under right now. Thanks for reading and please review.


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